REESE  LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


No. 


One  Religion :  Many  Creeds 


By 

Ross   Winans 
n 


"  /  believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty,  Maker  of  Heaven  and 
Earth,  and  of  all  Things  Visible  and  Invisible." 

BOOK  OF  COMMON  PRAYER 


THIRD  EDITION 


With  an  Introduction  by 
Rev.   Charles  Voysey,   B.A 

Founder  of  the  Theistic  Church  of  London 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New    York    and   London 
3be  fmicfeerbocfeer 
1903 


w  r 


REESE 

- 

ENTERED  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1870,  by 

ROSS  WINANS 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Maryland 

COPYRIGHT,  1903 

BY 
WALTER  WINANS 


Unicfcecbocfter  pre«0,  flew 


INTRODUCTION 

BY  THE  REV.  CHARLES  VOYSEY 

IN  reproducing  a  book  on  Religion  written  about  thirty 
years  ago  by  Mr.  Ross  Winans,  his  grandson,  Mr. 
Walter  Winans,  is  doing  a  great  service  to  this  generation. 
Under  the  title  of  One  Religion:  Many  Creeds,  the  author's 
aim  has  been  chiefly  to  encourage  independent  thought 
and  to  insist  upon  the  duty  of  it  and  the  necessity  for  it. 
If  that  necessity  existed  then,  it  is  even  more  obvious  to- 
day. If  ever  it  was  a  duty  to  investigate  the  grounds  of 
religious  belief  and  the  various  forms  which  it  has  as- 
sumed, that  duty  is  more  imperative  than  ever.  One 
cannot  listen  with  patience  to  those  who  cry  out  to  the 
reformers  that  they  are  only  "slaying  the  slain." 

Creeds  which  ought  to  pass  away  into  oblivion  are  still 
holding  their  ground  in  spite  of  the  havoc  made  in  their 
foundations.  Dogmas,  openly  at  variance  with  science 
and  with  assured  knowledge,  still  stalk  the  regions  of 
Christendom  to  terrify  and  enslave  the  weak.  It  is  true 
that  much  of  their  asperity  has  been  softened  down, 
some  of  them  are  receding  from  the  utterances  of 
preachers,  or  are  only  seldom  referred  to  in  such  seasons 
as  Advent  and  Lent.  The  everlasting  fire  of  Hell  is 
nearly  extinguished — at  least  in  Protestant  Churches  and 
sects.  The  so-called  "atonement  "  by  Christ's  sufferings 
and  death  is  no  longer  taught  in  its  ancient  integrity, 
while  those  who  still  cling  to  any  idea  of  it  wrangle 
among  themselves  as  to  its  real  meaning  and  have  only 
very  vague  notions  of  its  practical  efficacy. 

The  poor  Devil,  too,  who  has  had  so  large  a  share  in 
the  construction  of  Christian  dogmas  and  without  whom 


iv  Introduction 

the  "scheme  of  salvation  "  would  be  meaningless,  is  now 
relegated  to  a  very  back-seat  and  is  seldom  mentioned  in 
a  manner  worthy  of  his  prestige. 

Other  great  changes  might  be  mentioned  in  connexion 
with  the  infallibility  and  divine  authority  of  the  Bible, 
arising  partly  out  of  modern  criticism  and  still  more  out 
of  the  natural  revolt  of  the  reason,  conscience,  and 
thought  of  man;  nevertheless,  these  great  and  significant 
changes  in  thought  have  not  been  accompanied  as  they 
ought  to  have  been  by  corresponding  changes  in  the 
words  of  the  creeds,  the  liturgies,  the  hymns,  and  the 
doctrinal  formularies  still  in  use  and  still  technically  re- 
garded as  the  standards  of  belief  and  the  legal  documents 
by  which  preachers  and  teachers  are  bound. 

Only  the  other  day  a  striking  instance  of  this  incon- 
sistency occurred,  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Synod  of  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  when  an  heroic  effort  was  made 
to  get  rid  of  objectionable  clauses  in  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith,  or  to  relax  the  bonds  of  conformity 
to  it.  But  a  party  which  proved  to  be  the  stronger, 
while  acknowledging  the  premises  of  the  promoters, 
wriggled  out  of  the  dilemma  by  retaining  the  Confession 
as  it  stands  and  declaring  that  its  terms  were  only  to  be 
"interpreted  "  and  taught  according  to  their  agreement 
with  "Holy  Scripture."  Anything  more  evasive  and 
disingenuous  it  would  be  difficult  to  invent.  All  felt  the 
moral  and  religious  objections  to  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
yet  the  majority  had  not  the  courage  to  take  the  only 
honest  and  straightforward  course  of  rejecting  and  re- 
pudiating whatever  in  the  Confession  was  false  and  injuri- 
ous to  religion. 

Other  Churches  are  in  the  same  plight.  No  man  is 
bold  enough  to  come  forward  and  say  openly:  "This  or 
that  is  not  true,  and  ought  to  be  expunged  from  our 
creeds  and  worship."  Every  item  remains  as  before. 
Not  a  word  in  the  creeds  has  been  struck  out.  In  the 


Introduction  v 

liturgies  there  are  the  same  old  prayers,  "From  Thy  wrath 
and  from  everlasting  damnation,  Good  Lord,  deliver  us." 
Still  the  lips  of  men  who  do  not  believe  in  it  have  to 
pray:  "By  the  mystery  of  thy  holy  Incarnation,  by  thy 
holy  nativity  and  circumcision ;  by  thy  baptism,  fasting, 
and  temptation ;  by  thine  agony  and  bloody  sweat,  by 
thy  cross  and  passion,  by  thy  precious  death  and  burial, 
by  thy  glorious  resurrection  and  ascension,  Good  Lord, 
deliver  us." 

Scarcely  a  clergyman  could  be  found  who  believes  in 
the  literal  truth  of  the  ascension  of  Jesus  as  recorded  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  yet  in  his  creeds  and  in  his 
very  prayers  he  is  still  bound  to  say  he  believes  it. 

Our  rejoicing  in  the  progress  of  thought  and  in  the 
gradual  release  of  the  human  mind  from  error  and  super- 
stition is  considerably  modified  by  the  humiliating  fact 
that  all  the  old  forms  are  still  retained  and  not  one  word 
of  them  has  been  altered  to  suit  the  later  convictions. 
Worse  still  is  the  spectacle  of  the  Demon  of  "Interpreta- 
tion," whose  skill  and  subtlety  are  invoked  to  put  new 
and  false  meanings  into  the  old  terms,  so  that  any  word 
may  mean  anything  you  please.  A  popular  London 
clergyman,  now  dead,  preached  a  sermon  in  my  hearing, 
on  "the  resurrection  of  the  body,"  in  which  he  scientific- 
ally demolished  that  idea  and  proved  it  to  be  an  im- 
possibility. But  he  wound  up  his  discourse  with  these 
memorable  words:  "And  this  is  what  we  mean  when  we 
say,  'I  believe  in  the  resurrection  of  the  body.'  ' 

An  honest  man  would  have  said:  "  This  is  the  exact 
opposite  of  what  we  mean  when  we  say,  '  I  believe  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  body.'  ' 

We  do  not  want  "interpretations."  We  want  strong 
affirmations  and  strong  denials.  We  want  common  rever- 
ence for  truth.  We  want  our  teachers  and  clergymen  to 
say:  "This  is  true,"  "That  is  not  true,"  or  a  third  thing 
"is  doubtful";  and  to  give  their  reasons  for  it.  The 


vi  Introduction 

Demon  of  Interpretation  is  the  father  of  lies,  misleading 
the  people  and  corrupting  the  heart  of  the  preacher. 
And  to  quicken  this  sense  of  honesty  of  mind  and  tongue 
in  clergy  and  laity,  it  is  absolutely  needful  to  investigate, 
to  scrutinise,  examine,  criticise,  without  fear  or  hesitation, 
everything  which  has  been  palmed  off  upon  us  in  the  past 
as  "Divine  Revelation."  God  is  calling  us  to  our  senses, 
to  wake  up  and  fulfil  the  responsibilities  of  manhood,  to 
put  away  childish  things  and  many  things  still  worse  than 
childish  which  we  have  blindly  hugged  as  precious  and 
helpful. 

We  may  begin  where  we  like  and  where  our  interest 
seems  to  invite  us.  We  may  begin  with  the  latest  modern 
cry  of  the  better  class  of  Christians  who  have  shaken  off 
some  of  their  fetters — "Back  to  Christ," — and  set  our- 
selves to  inquire,  from  the  only  sources  of  any  knowledge 
of  him  (i.  e.,  the  Gospels),  who  and  what  he  was,  and  what 
he  taught,  and  how  he  behaved,  and  what  tempers  he  dis- 
played ;  or  we  may  begin  with  the  old  story  of  the  crea- 
tion and  fall  of  man,  the  curse  of  God  against  the  race, 
the  Devil's  share  in  it,  the  need  for  a  Saviour,  and  all  the 
dogmas  which  have  grown  out  of  the  first  childish  mis- 
take :  but  wherever  we  may  begin  we  shall  find  in  this 
book,  One  Religion :  Many  Creeds,  something  to  help  us, 
something  to  fasten  upon  as  definite  truth  and  fact,  some- 
thing which  commends  itself  as  good  and  true  to  those 
native  faculties  which  God  has  given  to  us  for  the  per- 
ception of  truth  and  the  attainment  of  godliness.  I  do 
not  pretend  to  write  as  a  critic  of  the  book.  Whatever 
defects  may  be  ascribed  to  it,  its  merits  and  its  value  out- 
weigh them  all.  Its  aim  is  singularly  pure  and  good.  It 
is  all  for  truth  and  reason  and  righteousness,  and  it  is 
pervaded  by  a  reverent  love  for  God  which  overflows  the 
author's  own  heart  and  is  the  best  guarantee  of  his  laud- 
able designs. 

Its  chief  value  in  my  eyes  is  that  if  the  principles  here 


Introduction  vii 

laid  down  in  regard  to  free  and  reverent  inquiry  as  to  the 
truth  of  the  Christian  religion — more  accurately  to  say 
the  Christian  religions, —  it  will  help  every  reader  to 
prepare  himself  for  the  great  conflict  that  is  coming — the 
battle  of  Armageddon, — between  those  who  directly  and 
personally  trust  in  God  and  those  who  rely  on  the  medi- 
ation of  Christ  or  a  Church  or  a  living  priest,  or  put  the 
Bible  in  place  of  God. 

The  core  and  kernel  of  this  mighty  conflict  is  the  ques- 
tion of  "salvation."  Do  we  need  to  be  saved  from  any 
consequences  of  sin  which  have  been  appointed  by  a 
righteous  and  loving  God? 

If  we  do  need  to  be  rescued  from  Him  or  in  any  sense 
"ransomed  "  or  "bought  off  "  or  "redeemed  "  from  any 
penalty  decreed  by  God  against  sinners,  then  there  is 
room  for  a  "Saviour"  and  for  the  absurd  and  impious 
dogmas  which  cluster  round  his  name  and  person ;  and, 
pushed  to  its  extremity,  we  need  a  living  priest  on  earth 
to  guide  us  and  to  rule  us,  to  impose  upon  us  any  creed 
he  chooses,  to  hear  our  confessions  of  our  secret  sins,  and 
to  pronounce  a  divine  forgiveness  or  to  send  us  to  endless 
hell  for  our  disobedience  to  his  authority.  He  is  God's 
representative  on  earth  and  to  him  our  sole  allegiance 
is  due,  and  without  his  aid  and  his  incantations  and  his 
sacraments  we  shall  doubtless  perish  everlastingly. 

But  if,  contrary  to  all  this,  God  so  loves  us  all  that  we 
have  no  need  to  be  afraid  of  Him,  that  every  penalty  He 
inflicts  or  decrees  is  only  sent  to  do  us  good,  to  correct 
our  faults,  and  to  improve  our  character ;  if  it  would  be 
a  grievous  loss  to  evade  or  escape  one  of  His  judgments, 
then  your  "Saviour"  is  not  only  superfluous,  but  mis- 
chievous, not  our  true  friend  but  our  enemy,  not  one  to 
reconcile  our  shrinking  hearts  to  our  righteous,  loving, 
and  compassionate  Father,  but  to  keep  us  back  from 
Him,  to  hide  and  distort  His  face,  and  to  make  it  forever 
impossible  to  learn  what  His  goodness  is,  and  to  be  so 


viii  Introduction 

degraded  and  enslaved  that  our  very  praises  of  Him  are 
a  mockery  and  our  worship  is  turned  into  idolatry. 

And  if  we  need  no  Christ  to  save  us,  no  New  Testa- 
ment to  tell  us  of  his  unwarranted  interference,  no  Church 
to  be  the  channels  of  his  grace  or  the  means  of  our  "sal- 
vation "  from  a  danger  that  never  existed,  neither  shall 
we  need  the  poor  benighted  priest  to  strut  before  us  with 
the  airs  of  Divine  authority  and  to  usurp  the  very  throne 
of  God  Himself  in  our  consciences  and  hearts. 

We  shall  then  be  close  to  God  and  inseparable  from 
Him,  trusting,  loving,  adoring  Him  only,  and  living  in  a 
region  of  peace  and  joy  far  above  the  turmoil  of  the  world 
and  absolutely  free  from  the  tyrannies  of  priestcraft  and 
superstition. 

On  these  great  issues  will  turn  the  religion  of  the  future 
and  the  awful  conflict  which  will  determine  the  struggle 
between  the  Christian  hierarchy  and  the  great  world  at 
large. 

Mr.  Winans's  book  has  helped  many  a  soul  to  find  light 
and  liberty  already.  It  will  soon,  we  trust,  help  many 
more. 

The  value  of  this  book  is  vastly  increased  by  an  Ap- 
pendix containing  copious  extracts  from  the  documents 
of  other  creeds  besides  the  Jewish  and  the  Christian.  No 
other  book  that  I  know  of  gives  anything  approaching  in 
detail  and  completeness  such  a  representation  of  the 
various  beliefs  and  moral  codes  of  the  great  religions  of 
the  ancient  world.  Here  we  have  a  summary  of  Zoroas- 
trian,  Mahommedan,  Buddhist,  Burmese,  Hindu,  Con- 
fucian tenets  from  the  Eastern  world.  Fr.om  the  West 
Mr.  Winans  has  gathered  the  less  known  but  deeply  in- 
teresting records  of  the  primitive  faiths  of  Mexico  and 
Peru.  Next  come  extracts  from  the  Talmud,  from 
Egyptian  records,  from  the  Greek  schools  of  thought, 
and  even  the  religion  of  Iceland  is  not  forgotten. 

Quite  apart  from  the  researches  here  involved  and  the 


Introduction  ix 

value  of  such  knowledge  in  these  days,  the  author  has 
conferred  a  lasting  benefit  on  his  readers  by  putting  be- 
fore them  in  a  concise  form  the  testimony  which  each  re- 
ligion can  give  of  itself  and  in  its  own  words. 

To  all  this  is  added  a  most  valuable  account  of  the  dis- 
sensions within  the  Christian  Church,  dissensions  never 
wholly  absent  and  often  accompanied  by  bloody  strifes; 
and  as  a  natural  sequence  an  account  is  given  of  the 
crimes  perpetrated  in  the  name  and  for  the  sake  of  Christ 
himself.  Under  this  category  we  have  an  account  of 
the  Crusades,  the  persistent  persecution  of  the  Jews,  the 
outrages  perpetrated  by  the  Spaniards  in  South  America, 
and  the  tortures  inflicted  upon  heretics  by  the  "Holy  " 
Inquisition. 

For  all  this  the  reader  will  be  most  heartily  grateful  to 
the  author,  because  it  brings  within  the  compass  of  one 
book  an  amount  of  knowledge  which  only  the  rarest  few 
are  able  to  acquire  by  their  own  exertions  and  which  is 
absolutely  beyond  reach  of  the  many. 

C.  V. 

ANNESLEY  LODGE,  HAMPSTEAD, 
LONDON,  July,  1903. 


PREFACE 

IN  offering  to  the  public,  now  put  together  in  form, 
what  was  originally  a  series  of  papers,  we  desire,  at 
the  beginning,  to  set  ourselves  right  as  to  its  originality 
—be  it  more  or  less.  We  are  equally  anxious  to  avoid 
the  imputation  of  having  used  any  other  man's  thoughts 
without  acknowledgment,  and  of  having  perverted  to  our 
own  ends  any  borrowed  ideas  or  language.  The  neces- 
sity for  some  explanation  on  this  point  will,  perhaps,  be 
made  more  obvious,  and  the  explanation  more  easy,  if  we 
state  simply  and  candidly  the  circumstances  under  which 
what  follows  was  composed — or  compiled. 

In  the  course  of  contemplating  man's  duty  to  his 
Maker,  to  his  fellow-man,  and  to  himself,  we  drew  the 
conclusions  that  are  embodied  in  the  following  pages. 
These  were  at  times  committed  to  writing,  but  without 
any  view  to  publication.  They  were  in  the  main  definite 
enough  ;  but,  coming  from  a  pen  unused  to  literary  labour, 
they  were  lacking  in  method  and  finish.  At  a  later 
period,  and  during  a  residence  in  Europe,  we  fell  in  with 
a  variety  of  books  on  kindred  topics,  full  of  research  and 
scholarship,  well  arranged,  well  argued,  cogent,  convinc- 
ing. Recognising  their  value  in  the  available  information 
they  contained,  and  the  striking  manner  in  which  it  was 
conveyed,  we  extracted — without  ceremony — here  a  pas- 
sage and  there  a  phrase,  and  wove  them  in  among  our 
own.  It  was  not  so  much  that  we  were  impressed  with 
the  force  and  novelty  of  the  ideas  of  others, — we  were 
glad  rather  to  find  ready  at  hand  the  means  of  expressing 
and  elucidating  what  we  had  thought  and  felt.  In  parts, 


xii  Preface 

even  where  the  very  language  of  some  popular  author 
has  been  adopted  as  eminently  fit  to  serve  our  purpose, 
it  will  be  seen  that  our  conclusions  are  essentially  differ- 
ent from  his.  To  have  given  him  credit,  therefore,  at  the 
moment,  by  footnote  or  otherwise,  might  have  laid  us 
open  to  the  charge  of  having  garbled  or  misrepresented 
him.  Besides,  at  the  time  when  we  availed  ourselves  of 
the  facilities  then  open  before  us,  we  made  no  memoran- 
dum of  the  sources  whence  we  borrowed.  At  a  still  later 
period,  and  with  a  view  to  completing  and  publishing  the 
papers  here  expanded  into  a  volume,  we  sought  the  occa- 
sional aid  of  pens  more  methodical  and  facile  than  our 
own.  The  result  has  been  that  the  original  portions 
became  inextricably  mingled  with  what  was  borrowed 
and  what  was  amended.  If  we  would  separate  them,  we 
should  find  it  difficult  if  not  impossible,  remote  as  we 
are  from  the  libraries  to  which  we  resorted. 

In  short,  we  beg  to  state  without  reserve,  that  we  have 
borrowed  freely  from  any  quarter,  when  we  held  that  the 
cause  of  truth  could  be  served  thereby.  Furthermore,  we 
shall  endeavour,  by  aid  of  inquiry  and  memory,  to  make 
out  and  publish,  at  the  end  of  this  work,  a  complete  list 
of  the  authors  to  whom  we  have  been  indebted. 

R.  W. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION  BY  THE  REV.  CHARLES  VOYSEY    .       iii 

PREFACE .        .       xi 

INTRODUCTORY xix 

Man's  intuitive  conviction  .....  i 
Signs  and  creeds  at  variance  .....  3 
Little  progress  amongst  the  Jews  ....  5 

Result  of  Jesus'  protest 7 

Councils  assume  infallible  power  ....  9 
Psychological  source  of  legends  .  .  .  .11 
Legends  concerning  children  .  .  .  .  .13 
Incredible  statements  of  Old  Testament  .  .  15 

The  same  claimed  for  Godama          .         .         .  17 

The  Divinity  of  Jesus  not  believed  .         .         .         .19. 
Mythology  of  the  Virgin  Mary         .         .         .         .21 

Influence  of  the  printing  press 23 

Progress  of  the  sciences     ......       25 

Modern  preaching 27 

Science  undermining  theology 29 

A  protest  against  theologies      .         .         .         .  31 

Affirmation  necessary 35 

God's  revelation  to  man 37 

Labour — pain    ........       39 

Man's  wonderful  organisation 41 

Instances  of  instinct 43 

Instinct  in  vegetation        ......       45 

Recuperative  powers  of  nature          ....       47 

Church  method  of  salvation 49 

God's  method  of  salvation 51 

xiii 


xiv  Contents 

Disregard  of  natural  laws 53 

God's  laws  all-sufficient     ......       57 

God's  beneficence 59 

Man  an  agent  in  God's  purposes       .         .         .         .61 

Prayer  for  recovery 63 

The  God  of  Moses 65 

Priestcraft 67 

Influence  of  the  true  religion 69 

Man's  predisposition  to  credulity      .         .         .         •       71 
God's  goodness  and  man's  happiness  73 

Time  is  not  the  measure  of  the  soul  75 

Animal  instinct 77 

The  light  that  guides 79 

Brought  into  existence  for  eternity  .         .         .         .81 

Spontaneous  faith 83 

Spontaneous  belief .85 

Study  of  other  theologies 87 

Innate  promptings  of  the  heart         ....       89 

The  devil .         -91 

God's  perfection 93 

Happiness  of  this  life 95 

Man's  trust  in  God 97 

Pain  —  a  blessing 99 

Man's  individuality  hereafter 101 

Instinct  and  reason 103 

Supposed  saviours 105 

Jesus'  second  coming 109 

Man's  craving  for  truth .in 

Yearnings  of  the  human  soul 113 

Belief  in  a  Supreme  Power 115 

God's  laws .         -u/ 

Conscience .119 

Man's  confidence  in  nature 123 

The  moral  law 129 

Constancy  of  nature's  laws 131 

Providential  interference 133 


Contents  xv 

PAGE 

Heaven  and  hell 135 

A  primary  conviction 137 

God  and  man 139 

No  remission  of  penalties 141 

INTRODUCTION  TO  BIBLE  CRITICISM       .        .        .143 

Vagueness  of  prophecies 145 

Supernatural  inspiration  incredible  ....  147 

Failure  of  precise  predictions    .  .         .         .  149 

Parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son 151 

Erroneous  deductions 153 

Love  to  God  and  man 155 

Simplicity  of  true  religion 157 

Christ's  real  teachings 159 

God's  evil  passions 161 

God  likened  to  man  corporeally 165 

Blind  reliance  on  Scripture 167-*" 

Man's  perfection 169 

Intimation  of  redemption 171 

The  story  of  the  Fall  of  Man 173 

Bible  account  of  the  Fall  of  Man      .         .         .         .177 

Man's  original  condition 179 

Instant  change  in  animal  life    .         .         .         .         .181 

Death  indispensable 183 

The  food  of  animals 185 

Beautiful  laws  of  nature 187 

God's  original  laws  unchanged          .         .         .         .189 

Adam's  sin 191 

Eternal  life  on  earth 193 

Salvation  not  spiritual 195 

One  article  of  faith 197 

Jesus  the  Christ 199 

Some  miracles  explained 201    - 

Further  explanations 203 

Different  miracles .  205 

Jewish  tests  of  the  Messiahship        ....  207 


Contents 


PAGE 


The  throne  of  David 211 

A  kingdom  to  be  established 213 

Jesus  the  Messiah 215 

Object  of  Christ  and  Apostles 217 

Teaching  against  hypocrisy       .         .         .         .         .219 

Hatred  of  the  priesthood 221 

Jesus  repudiates  sacrifice  .  223 
The  Old  Testament  on  sacrifice        .         .         .         .225 

The  New  Testament  on  sacrifice       ....  227 

Christ  denounces  sacrifice 231 

Obscurity  of  the  Bible 233 

Sectarian  recrimination  the  result     .         .         .         .  235 

Jesus  and  the  supernatural 237 

The  Divinity  of  Jesus 239 

The  means  of  proof 241 

Texts  in  favour  of  one  God  only      .         .         .         .  243 

Further  proof .         .  247 

Jesus  and  the  Father 249 

Church  doctrine 251 

Faith  and  good  works 253 

St.  Paul's  teaching 255 

Jesus  never  claimed  Divinity 257 

Jesus'  mission 259 

Character  of  Jesus'  precepts 261 

Ananias  and  Sapphira 267 

Rational  explanation 269 

Unjustifiable  teachings 271 

Restlessness  of  the  soul 273 

Inferences 275 

Belief  in  Jesus 277 

Jesus  as  a  teacher 279 

No  good  results  from  this  belief        .         .         .         .281 

Working  of  miracles 285 

Jesus'  teaching  impracticable 287 

Jesus'  code  visionary 291 

The  arrest  of  Jesus 293 


Contents  xvii 


APPENDIX 


PAGE 


His  crucifixion 295 

The  coming  kingdom 297 

The  kingdom  of  God  in  the  soul      ....  299 

Jesus  and  the  Apostles 301 

God  the  only  Saviour 330 

Worship  of  Jesus       .  305 

Ceremonies        ........  307 

Jesus'  teaching  not  uniform 309 

Man's  destiny    .         . 311 


315 


Zoroastrianism 316 

Mohammedanism      .......  322 

Buddhism 331 

The  Burmese     .         .         .         .                  .         .         .  345 

The  Hindoos 356 

Confucianism 366 

Mexico  and  Peru 382 

The  Talmud 391 

Egyptian  history 396 

Stoicism 400 

Classical  antiquity     .......  402 

Cicero 403 

Pindar 405 

Plato          . 406 

Epicurus   .........  407 

Socrates     . 408 

Xenophanes 410 

Herakleitus 411 

Protagoras 411 

Grecian  history 411 

Sacred  book  of  the  Mexicans 412 

Extracts  from  Popol  Vuh .412 

Beliefs  of  the  American  Indians        .         .         .         -415 

Belief  of  the  New  Hollanders 416 

Belief  of  the  Icelanders 416 


xviii  Contents 

PAGE 

Christian  theology  no  restraint          .  •     41/ 

Contentions  of  the  early  Church       .         .  .418 

Later  crimes  of  the  Church       ...  .421 

The  Crusades .     42$ 

The  persecution  of  the  Jews     .         .  •     431 

Albigensian  War       ....  .              434 

Persecution  of  the  heretics        .  .     437 

The  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew    .  .     44° 

The  Spaniards  in  Mexico .         .  •     441 

The  Spaniards  in  Peru      ...  .     444 

Civilisation  and  theology  ....  .     447 

Printing  and  civilisation    ...  .     448 

LIST  OF  BOOKS  CONSULTED 45 l 


INTRODUCTORY 

WHAT  is  here  presented  we  desire  shall  be  viewed 
and  considered  as  an  inquiry  on  behalf  of  truth. 
Our  standpoint  is  the  omnipotence  and  perfection  of  the 
One  God,  a  sense  of  whose  existence  is  an  instinct  com- 
mon to  our  race,  and  who  governs  man  solely  by  the 
properties  originally  implanted  in  him.  Our  belief  is, 
that  man  being  thus  governed  and  trained  through  time 
and  during  eternity,  a  good  and  happy  result  must  ensue 
to  each  individual. 

The  history  of  the  human  race  shows  that  various  and 
widely  varying  forms  of  worship,  creeds,  doctrines,  dog- 
mas, and  theologies  have  been  propounded,  preached,  and 
pressed  upon  the  attention  of  man  at  different  times  and 
in  different  countries.  We  believe,  however,  that  there  is 
but  one  religion  existing  in  any  country  or  in  any  age, 
that  is  acceptable  to  God  ;  that  whatever  else  takes  upon 
it  the  name,  form,  or  guise  of  religion  is  -of  no  practical 
value. 

The  sense  of  true  religion — as  well  as  every  other 
faculty  and  power  of  the  mind  and  soul  of  man — is 
implanted  in  each  and  every  one  born  into  the  world. 
Out  of  it,  as  from  a  germ,  comes  and  ever  will  come, 
spontaneously, — as  the  tree  comes  from  the  acorn, — all 
that  man  ever  has  been,  or  ever  will  be.  It  makes  him 
what  he  is,  and  gives  him  what  he  has,  whether  of 
morals,  science,  arts,  civilisation,  or  anything  else  that 
pertains  to  his  mental  or  spiritual  being.  And  this  one 
and  only  true  religion  God  has  so  indelibly  engraved  on 
the  heart  and  conscience  of  every  accountable  human 


xx  Introductory 

being  as  to  ensure  that  all  men  shall  eventually  worship 
Him  acceptably,  and  be  made  happy  themselves,  not- 
withstanding many  adverse  appearances  here. 

History  shows  that  this  religion  of  the  heart  and  con- 
science is  intermingled  with  all  the  different  theological 
systems  of  which  we  have  knowledge.  This  also  is  the 
only  ingredient  that  is  common  to  them  all ;  whence  it 
may  be  inferred  that  it  is  best  adapted  for  man's  wants 
and  God's  requirements  ;  in  short,  that  it  is  the  only 
religion  ordained  and  approved  by  God.  Nor  can  any 
amount  of  false  teaching  eradicate,  or  render  it  inop- 
erative. Moreover,  since  God  never  changes,  it  will 
never  change.  It  operates,  as  God  willed  it  should,  to 
shape  the  lives  and  conduct  of  men,  and  to  restrain  them 
within  the  limits  prescribed  by  the  free  agency  which  He 
has  granted  to  them.  Whatever  worship  or  reverence 
man  renders  to  God — whatever  morality  or  goodness  he 
manifests  in  his  intercourse  with  men — all  are  derived 
from  this  source  and  prompting  alone.  Whatever  of  ir- 
reverence, immorality,  impiety,  or  wrong-doing  he  prac- 
tises, in  spite  of  this  religion,  finds  no  restraint  in  any 
other ;  no,  not  even  in  that  which  makes  use  of  the  threat 
of  eternal  punishment  to  intimidate  him.  Further,  we 
believe  that  the  Divine  government  was  made  perfect 
from  the  first,  and  therefore,  not  being  subject  to  altera- 
tion or  amendment,  there  are  no  such  things  as  special, 
or  supernatural  providences,  all  occurrences  taking  place 
under  guidance  of  the  never-varying  laws  of  Nature. 
Again  :  we  believe  that  all  rewards  and  punishments  are 
alike  benevolently  intended ;  that  the  latter,  though 
never  vindictive,  are  never  relaxed,  and  that  both  are 
designed  by  God  for  the  sole  purpose  of  training  man  to 
the  destiny  marked  out  for  him.  The  training,  which 
begins  on  this  side  of  the  grave,  continues  beyond  it,  and 
during  eternity,  to  the  end  that  every  human  being  shall 
become  more  and  more  godlike,  and  capable  of  appre- 


Introductory  xxi 

ciating  God's  glory  and  rendering  Him  higher  praise  and 
worship. 

From  these  remarks  it  will  be  seen  that  while  we 
accept  every  portion  of  the  Bible  that  is  in  accordance 
with  the  Bible  written  in  men's  hearts, — or,  in  other 
words,  with  natural  religion, — we  repudiate  all  that  pro- 
fesses to  be  based  upon  its  supernatural  or  special  in- 
spiration. 

We  object  to  what  the  Church  demands,  an  unbounded 
and  unjustifiable  confidence  in  the  infallibility  of  the 
writings  of  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  and  the  Evangelists 
and  the  Apostles.  We  dissent  from  a  sentimental  attach- 
ment to  an  impossible  compound  of  God  and  man.  We 
protest  that  Christian  theology,  as  we  have  it,  is  not 
taught  by  God  Himself,  or  by  Christ  himself,  nor  is  it 
consistent  with  established  facts,  nor  is  it  comprehensible 
by  our  reason.  We  would  show  you  that  Christianity 
as  taught  among  us  is  no  better  than  other  systems 
taught  in  other  than  Christian  countries,  and  in  some 
respects  not  so  good. 

These  are  the  objects  of  this  publication.  If,  in  the 
course  of  presenting  our  views,  anything  should  be  said 
which  may  be  deemed  offensive  or  disrespectful  to  those 
who  hold  contrary  opinions,  certainly  no  such  offence  or 
disrespect  is  intended.  We  write  under  an  honest  con- 
viction of  the  truth,  and  yield  nothing  to  preconceived 
views.  Truth  is  truth,  and  will  find  its  way  to  the  sur- 
face. Shrieks  and  lamentations  over  the  scepticism  and 
free-thinking  of  the  nineteenth  century  will  not  serve 
the  purpose  of  concealing  it.  Nor  is  it  desirable  that  it 
should  be  concealed.  We  must  believe,  not  what  it  is 
convenient,  or  comfortable,  or  customary  to  believe,  but 
what  is  most  in  accordance  with  truth.  Truth,  and  not 
what  is  called  orthodoxy,  should  be  our  prime  object. 
It  is  not  enough  to  maintain  what  we  believe  ;  we  must 
believe  what  we  maintain.  Any  one  may  bring  himself 


xxii  Introductory 

to  give  blind  assent  to  that  which  he  is  inclined  to  believe, 
or  thinks  it  becoming  or  expedient  to  believe,  but  this  is 
not  genuine  belief.  It  is  one  thing  to  wish  to  have  truth 
on  our  side,  and  another  to  wish,  in  all  sincerity,  to  be  on 
the  side  of  truth.  If  the  conclusions  at  which  we  arrive 
have  the  weight  of  evidence  in  their  favour,  we  have  no 
alternative  but  to  accept  them  and  bide  the  results. 
Neither  is  there  occasion  to  contemplate  with  uneasiness 
the  admission  of  truth,  or  the  result  of  being  governed  by 
it,  in  any  matters  whatsoever,  and  more  particularly  in 
those  pertaining  to  religion.  God  did  not  endow  us  with 
perceptive  and  reasoning  faculties,  in  order  that  they 
might  be  employed  upon  all  other  subjects,  and  remain 
torpid  in  relation  to  that  one  subject  only.  We  hold  to 
it,  therefore,  that  the  truth  must  be  accepted  at  all  haz- 
ards, even  if  it  lead  to  a  denial  of  the  supernatural  inspir- 
ation of  Scripture  and  all  dogmas  connected  therewith, 
which  we  are  fully  persuaded  it  will  do. 

Nor,  we  repeat  it,  need  the  prospect  of  this  alarm 
the  most  timid.  God,  the  Father,  who  alone  governed 
the  world  from  the  first,  governs  it  now,  and  will  ever 
govern  it.  No  broader  foundation  for  the  faith  of  all 
men  in  their  eternal  welfare  is  possible  than  that  laid  by 
God  Himself  when  He  established  his  never-changing 
laws ;  and  when  He  so  constituted  and  endowed  man, 
that  under  the  influence  and  effect  of  such  unvarying  laws 
he  should  be  conducted  to  the  happy  destiny  designed  for 
him  from  the  first.  The  only  fear  in  these  matters, 
becoming  to  man,  is  a  fear  lest  he  fail  in  watchfulness  to 
guard  against  violations  of  God's  laws  pertaining  to  his 
being ;  lest  he  fail  in  any  portion  of  his  duty  to  God  and 
to  his  fellow-creatures.  All  else  may  be  implicitly  left 
to  his  Maker  and  benefactor. 

In  all  countries,  whether  civilised  or  uncivilised,  the 
popular  system  of  theology  has  invariably  been  claimed 
to  be  based  on  some  supernatural  revelation  from  God. 


Introductory  xxiii 

The  founders  or  acknowledged  heads  of  these  systems 
have  claimed,  or  it  has  been  claimed  for  them  by  their 
followers,  that  they  were  supernaturally  inspired,  and 
miraculously  and  specially  endowed  and  commissioned  of 
God  to  make  His  will  and  word  known  to  mankind. 
Among  the  persons  claiming  to  have  been  so  inspired  and 
commissioned,  or  for  whom  such  claim  has  been  made,  and 
who  have  gained  extensive  credence  in  such  claim,  are  the 
following  :  Moses,  the  great  leader,  historian,  and  Prophet 
of  the  Jews,  fourteen  or  fifteen  hundred  years  before 
Christ ;  Zoroaster,  who  founded  the  theology  that  prevails 
among  the  Parsees,  certainly  not  less  than  twelve  hun- 
dred years  before  Christ ;  Confucius,  born  five  hundred  and 
fifty-one  years  before  Christ,  the  most  eminent  teacher  of 
natural  religion  in  the  great  Chinese  nation  ;  Buddha, 
who  founded  a  system  of  worship  in  India,  called  Buddh- 
ism, five  hundred  years  before  Christ ;  Godama,  who, 
also  about  five  hundred  years  before  Christ,  founded  the 
system  of  worship  which  now  prevails  in  the  Burmese 
Empire  ;  Christ,  the  claimed  basis  of  the  Christian  theo- 
logy ;  and  Mohammed,  the  founder  of  the  Mohammedan 
creed. 

Among  the  so-called  sacred  books  embodying  systems 
of  theology,  and  said  to  be  derived  from  supernatural  in- 
spiration, are  the  following :  The  Old  Testament  of  the 
Jews  ;  the  Zend-Avesta  of  the  Parsees ;  the  Great  Learn- 
ing of  the  Chinese ;  the  Rig-Veda  of  the  Hindoos ;  the 
Vini  Pidimot  of  the  Burmese  Empire ;  the  Christian 
Bible  ;  and  the  Koran. 

All  or  most  of  the  Church  dogmas,  legends,  fables,  and 
traditions,  in  relation  to  the  miraculous  conception,  birth, 
miracles,  and  other  pretended  supernatural  circumstances 
connected  with  the  history  of  Jesus  are  borrowed  from— 
or  find  their  counterpart  in — the  several  systems  of  wor- 
ship founded  and  practised  from  four  to  twelve  centuries 
before  his  birth. 


xxiv  Introductory 

The  historic  part  of  the  Bible,  in  relation  to  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world,  has  its  counterpart  also  in  the  several 
systems  of  theology  here  mentioned.  They  all  had  their 
cosmologies,  based  on  equally  good  authority  and  equally 
wide  of  the  truth  as  that  recorded  in  the  Bible.  This 
will  appear  hereafter  when  we  come  to  look  into  the 
history  of  the  ancient  creeds  just  mentioned.  The  time 
and  manner  of  the  creation  no  man  has  ever  known,  or 
ever  will  know,  in  this  life ;  nor  is  such  knowledge  of 
importance  in  preparing  ourselves  for  the  life  to  come. 


ONE  RELIGION  :  MANY  CREEDS 


ONE  RELIGION:   MANY  CREEDS 


MAN  needs  no  teaching  to  be  convinced  that  there  is 
a  God,  the  creator,  the  sustain er,  the  preserver,  and 
the  governor  of  the  universe.  The  idea  is  innate,  impera- 
tive, and  essential,  and  declares  itself  in  the  mind  and 
conscience  as  soon  as  the  human  being  begins  to  observe, 
to  compare,  and  to  reason.  There  is  no  one,  however  rude 
or  ignorant  —  unless  he  be  idiotic,  or  otherwise  incapable 
of  consecutive  thought  —  who  has  not  some  notion,  how- 
ever vague,  of  this  great  and  almighty  Being.  There  is 
no  one  in  the  exercise  of  his  intellectual  faculties,  who 
would  not  recognise  the  existence  of  a  God  as  an  absolute 
and  necessary  truth,  even  if  there  had  been  no  other 
book  to  teach  it  than  the  great  book  of  Nature.  The 
earth,  the  sea,  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  all  the  hosts  of 
heaven,  spread  out  before  him  in  their  infinite  beauty 
and  majesty,  each  silently  but  eloquently  and  irresistibly 
proclaims  that  they  have  had  a  divine,  omnipotent, 
eternal,  and  infinite  cause  and  maker.  Man  has,  more- 
over, not  alone  an  intuitive  conviction  of  the  existence 
of  an  overruling  Spirit, — he  is  conscious  that  he  has 
within  himself  a  soul,  in  affinity  —  in  a  limited  sense  — 
with  that  great  overruling  Spirit. 

But  while  all  men  are  thus  conscious  not  only  that 
God  is,  but  that  God  must  be,  and  that  the  spirit  of  man 
bears  a  certain  relation  to  Him,  some  men,  pretending 


2  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

to  be  preternaturally  and  directly  inspired  by  God  to 
declare  His  will  and  to  explain  His  nature  and  His 
attributes,  have  made  assertions  and  propounded  doc- 
trines, at  various  times  and  among  various  nations,  that 
have  greatly  bewildered  the  minds  of  their  fellow-men. 
These  artificial  teachings  and  vain  imaginings  —  whether 
they  be  called  mythologies,  theologies,  religions,  faiths, 
or  systems  of  belief  —  contradict  each  other  on  the  most 
vital  and  fundamental  points.  Some  of  them  assert  that 
there  is  but  one  God,  and  that  He  is  not  only  spiritual, 
but  physical  and  material,  having  a  body  and  organs 
like  a  man.  Some  have  exalted  human  attributes,  cloth- 
ing humanity  in  beautiful  or  majestic  forms,  and  have 
deified  their  own  production.  Some  have  adopted  a  pre- 
cisely opposite  course,  and  have  invented  fantastic  and 
hideous  divinities.  Some  deny  God's  personality,  and 
teach  that  all  nature  is  the  body,  of  which  He  is  the 
animating  soul.  Some  say  that  there  are  two  Gods,  one 
the  God  of  good,  the  other  the  God  of  evil,  and  that  the 
two  are  constantly  at  war  with  each  other.  Others  main- 
tain that  there  are  three  Gods,  co-eternal  and  co-equal  in 
power,  in  wisdom,  and  in  glory,  and  that  these  three 
are  one,  and  must  be  worshipped  as  one.  The  second 
person — say  they — in  this  triune  Divinity  stands  toward 
the  first  in  the  relation  of  the  Son  to  the  Father ;  while 
the  third  also  is  a  person,  arid  proceeds  from  the  Father 
and  the  Son.  The  earliest  nations  appear  to  have  been 
taught,  either  that  the  sun — the  most  glorious  lumi- 
nary, visible  to  the  unassisted  human  eye — was  God,  or 
that  the  number  of  the  gods  was  as  infinite  as  the 
manifestations  of  Nature.  Even  Abraham  and  Moses, 
who  believed  and  taught  the  unity  of  God,  attributed 
to  this  all-wise,  all-just,  all-good,  all-knowing,  and  al- 
mighty being  the  form  of  a  man.  Moses  pretended  to 
have  talked  with  him  face  to  face  "  as  a  man  talketh 
with  his  friend,"  and  declared  that  he  had  been  permitted 


Signs  and  Creeds  at  Varian 


to  see  His  "  back  parts."  In  the  Pentateuch,  and  indeed 
throughout  both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  God  is 
described  as  being  ignorant  and  short-sighted,  and  pos- 
sessing many  of  the  passions  of  the  human  creatures 
whom  He  Himself  has  made. 

Creeds  and  modes  of  worship  have  been  many  and 
various  ;  but  there  is  not  one  of  them  now  accepted  in 
the  world  which  has  not,  however  pure  and  lofty  some 
may  be  in  their  moral  teachings,  promulgated  and  endeav- 
oured to  palm  upon  popular  credence  the  most  astounding 
scientific  and  historical  errors  and  untruths.  Thus  they 
have  acted,  to  some  extent,  as  a  drag  upon  the  intellect, 
and  an  impediment  to  the  progress  of  mankind.  They 
were  written  for  the  most  part  by  priests  of  the  various 
theologies  and  forms  of  faith  which  they  were  designed  to 
uphold,  and  often  with  the  too  palpable  purpose  of  keep- 
ing the  people  in  ignorance  and  of  maintaining  the  priest- 
hood as  a  privileged  class.  All  of  them  of  Asiatic  origin 
and  authorship,  and  declared  in  their  several  countries  to 
be  the  direct,  infallible,  unerring  utterances  of  God,  they 
have  given  currency  to  the  most  vulgar  and  debasing 
fictions,  and  represented  God  as  something  like  an  Orien- 
tal Caliph  or  Sultan,  subject  to  lusts  and  vices  and  fits 
of  cruel  anger,  and  constantly  liable  to  be  thwarted  in 
His  designs  by  powers  of  evil  whom  He  desired,  but  was 
not  able,  to  destroy. 

All  these  myths  and  dreams  have  varied  in  different 
ages  and  countries,  according  to  the  character  of  the 
nations  which  adopted  and  nominally  believed  them,  and 
they  have  come  down  to  us  from  an  antiquity  so  remote 
as  to  be  impenetrable.  They  are  partly  to  be  traced  to 
the  most  ancient  civilisation,  the  record  of  which  has 
been  preserved  by  tradition  and  sepulchral  monuments — 
and  notably  to  India,  Assyria,  Phoenicia,  and  Egypt. 
In  their  orginal  forms  these  mythologies  have  perished — 
except  in  India  and  non-Mohammedan  Asia,  where  they 


4  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

are  still  accepted  by  the  unreasoning  multitudes  of  half 
the  human  race. 

A  portion,  however,  of  these  fables,  greatly  modified 
in  form  and  detail,  was  borrowed  from  the  Egyptians, 
first  by  the  Jews  under  Moses,  and  secondly  by  the  Ara- 
bians under  Mahomet.  So  far  as  the  books  attributed  to 
Moses  and  other  priests  and  prophets  of  the  Hebrews 
are  concerned,  these  fables  are  held  forth  to  this  day  as 
grounds  for  belief  and  guides  for  conduct  to  all  the 
so-called  Christian  nations  of  the  world.  We,  as  Christ- 
ians— according  to  the  common  acceptation  of  the  term — 
and  sharers  in  the  advancing  civilisation  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  are  interested  mainly  in  the  theology  and  doc- 
trines of  Moses  and  Jesus.  All  other  systems  of  belief, 
except  natural  religion,  which  is  universal,  being  accepted 
by  all  men  in  all  places,  modern  civilisation  has  agreed 
to  condemn.  Even  the  most  devout  Christian  laughs  at 
the  grotesque  stories,  and  speaks  with  contemptuous  pity 
of  the  superstitious  absurdities  of  all  mythologies  except 
his  own.  But  let  his  own  rules  of  criticism  be  applied  to 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  they  will  immediately 
be  condemned  as  heretical ;  and  the  critic  himself  will  be 
accused  of  impiety  and  infidelity.  This  very  state  of 
things  prevails  in  Asia,  where  the  teachings  of  Moses  and 
Christ  receive  as  little  respect  from  the  priests  of  Oriental 
theologies,  as  Christians  bestow  upon  the  myths  of  the 
Hindoos,  or  the  nihilism  improperly  attributed  to  the 
Buddhists. 

Up  to  the  birth  of  Jesus,  the  Jews  had  their  cosmogony 
and  theology  entirely  to  themselves.  The  outer  world 
knew  nothing  of  their  sacred  books,  and,  indeed,  knew 
the  Jews  themselves  only  as  a  small  and  peculiar  people, 
in  whom  there  was  nothing  to  esteem  or  imitate.  No 
one  challenged  their  doctrine,  for  the  reason  that  no 
one  understood  or  cared  anything  about  it.  Whatever 
schism  or  difference  of  opinion  may  have  existed  among 


Little  Progress  amongst  the  Jews          5 

them,  in  their  own  little  country,  was  on  minor  matters, 
and  Moses  and  the  Prophets  seemingly  reigned  supreme. 
But  a  different  state  of  things  was  about  to  prevail. 
Jesus,  known  during  his  life  as  the  son  of  a  carpenter, 
and  claiming  direct  royal  descent  from  David  and  Solomon, 
challenged  the  truth  of  this  ancient  system,  and  became  a 
most  conspicuous  reformer.  He  protested  chiefly  against 
the  superstitious  ceremonies  of  the  Mosaic  ritual.  His 
protest  was  indeed  partial,  though,  as  far  as  it  went,  strong 
and  decided.  It  was  a  very  important  movement  towards 
separating  that  which  was  claimed  to  be  religion  from 
that  which  was  and  is  really  religion — between  that  which 
causes  contention  and  that  which  all  agree  upon. 

But  very  little  progress  had  been  made  amongst  the 
Jews  in  the  arts  and  sciences — indeed  very  little  was 
made  for  a  long  time  after  the  introduction  of  Christianity. 
The  printing  press,  that  grand  medium  for  the  dissemina- 
tion of  knowledge,  is  comparatively  a  modern  invention, 
not  having  been  introduced  until  the  middle  of  the  fif- 
teenth century.  There  were  no  microscopes  to  reveal  to 
the  delighted  intellect  of  man  the  wonders  that  lie  con- 
cealed in  apparent  nothingness ;  no  telescopes  to  unveil 
to  him  the  countless  worlds  and  planetary  systems  which, 
but  for  it,  never  would  have  been  discovered.  The  law 
of  gravitation — that  universal,  infinite,  governing  power 
by  which  the  whole  universe  is  sustained — was  unsus- 
pected. Electricity,  known  probably  to  some  extent,  was 
employed  only  in  tricks  and  artifices  to  startle  and  sur- 
prise those  who  were  ignorant  of  its  effects.  The  science 
of  geology  was  very  imperfect.  Astrology  was  far  more 
esteemed  than  astronomy.  The  earth  was  thought  by 
all  nations  to  be  the  centre  of  the  universe.  The  sun  was 
looked  upon  as  nothing  more  than  a  lamp  hung  in  the 
heavens  to  give  light  to  this  superior  orb.  Indeed  it  was 
not  even  known  to  be  an  orb  ;  the  idea  prevailed  that  it 
was  a  vast  extended  plane  without  visible  limits. 


6  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Under  these  circumstances,  Jesus  could  make  no  pro- 
test against  the  Mosaic  history  or  tradition.  He  was  ne- 
cessarily compelled  to  accept  these  as  he  found  them. 
Rejecting  the  Mosaic  notion  of  the  character  and  attri- 
butes of  God,  he  earnestly  protested  against  the  doctrine 
that  the  Deity,  whose  gospel  he  preached,  was  a  God  of 
hatred  or  anger,  or  subject  to  the  passions  or  imperfections 
of  humanity.  He  loudly  proclaimed  in  the  highways  and 
the  byways,  and  to  all  descriptions  of  people — but  chiefly 
to  the  poor  and  the  unhappy — that  God  is  a  God  of 
love,  a  Spirit  to  be  worshipped  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  a 
God  who  demands  of  His  creatures  no  vain  observances, 
no  heavy  burdens  of  ceremonials,  but  a  cheerful,  happy 
enjoyment  of  life,  provided  they  keep  within  the  limits 
of  the  divine  laws,  which  are  neither  galling  nor  heavy, 
but  easy,  light,  and  good.  He  adopted  so  much  of  the 
Ten  Commandments  as  accords  with  natural  religion.  He 
very  wisely  rejected  all  that  does  not  teach  the  two  great 
duties,  love  to  God  and  love  to  man.  u  If  thou  wilt  enter 
into  life,"  said  he  to  one  who  already  professed  to  be  per- 
forming this  part  of  his  duty,  "  keep  the  commandments  : 
Thou  shalt  do  no  murder,  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adul- 
tery, Thou  shalt  not  steal,  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  wit- 
ness, Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  and,  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself."  To  the  lawyer  also  who 
asked  him  a  question,  tempting  him,  and  saying,  "  Mas- 
ter, which  is  the  great  commandment  in  the  law?"  Je- 
sus replied,  *'  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind. 
This  is  the  first  and  great  commandment.  And  the 
second  is  like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself."  He  thus  reduced  the  detail  of  the  code,  leaving 
in  it  all  that  he  considered  essential,  and  summing  it  up 
in  the  two  general  duties  pertaining  to  God  and  man.  It 
may  be  noticed  in  passing,  that  he  struck  out  altogether 
the  commandment  that  pertains  to  the  Sabbath  day,  the 


Result  of  Jesus'  Protest  7 

violation  of  which  Moses,  with  a  bloodthirstiness  peculiar 
to  the  early  Jews,  considered  more  of  a  crime  against 
God  than  any  other.  In  fact,  he  considered  it  the  great 
crime  of  all  others,  and  visited  upon  him  who  should  dare 
to  break  it,  the  penalty  of  death.  In  this  matter,  the 
Christian  Church  of  our  day  sets  Moses  above  Christ, 
since,  notwithstanding  the  abrogation  of  the  law  by  Jesus, 
his  professed  disciples  still  adhere  to  it,  and  look  upon 
the  breach  of  it  as  one  of  the  most  heinous  sins  that  can 
be  committed. 

The  result  of  the  enlightened  protestantism  of  Jesus 
was  his  death  upon  the  cross.  He  became  a  martyr  to 
divine  truth.  But  he  left  a  noble  legacy  to  his  Apostles, 
and  to  the  world,  in  his  advocacy  of  the  sublime  teach- 
ings of  natural  religion.  In  discarding  all  theology  and 
all  dogmas,  he  cleared  away  much  of  the  mist  and  fog 
that  enshrouded  religion,  and  made  himself  a  benefactor 
to  his  race.  But,  unfortunately,  his  disciples  were  not 
only  Jews,  they  were  prejudiced  in  favour  of  Jewish  ob- 
servances. The  leaven  of  their  original  faith  fermented 
in  their  minds,  and  was  too  strongly  at  work  to  permit 
them  to  follow  their  Master  in  the  divine  simplicity  of 
his  early  teaching.  They  accepted  the  historic  and  scien- 
tific record  of  Moses,  erroneous  as  it  was,  because  nothing 
in  disproof  had  been  brought  to  bear  against  it,  whereas 
the  Church  of  our  day  maintains  its  dogmas  in  the  face 
of  scientifically  established  truths.  The  ancient  religion 
was  miraculous ;  so  also  should  that  be  which  was  advo- 
cated by  Jesus.  And  therefore,  by  degrees,  they  and 
their  successors  engrafted  a  mythology  upon  the  religion 
which  Jesus  advocated,  having  no  warrant  whatever  in 
the  words  or  deeds  of  their  Master.  We  cannot  tell  at 
what  exact  period  after  his  death  were  concocted  the 
many  marvellous  stories  related  of  him,  such  as  that  of 
his  supernatural  birth ;  of  the  visit  of  the  wise  men  from 
the  East,  led  to  his  cradle  by  a  star ;  of  his  having  been 


8  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

begotten  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  the  consequent  aban- 
donment of  the  pretension  set  up  as  to  his  royal  descent 
from  David  and  Solomon  ;  of  his  miracles ;  and  of  his 
resurrection  on  the  third  day  after  his  crucifixion.  It  is, 
we  say,  difficult,  and  all  but  impossible,  to  discover  when 
these  fables  were  intermingled  with  the  ordinary  human 
portion  of  the  narrative  of  his  life  and  teachings.  As  to 
their  being  found  in  the  four  Gospels  now  held  to  be 
canonical,  that  is  no  warrant  of  their  authenticity.  These 
four  Gospels  form  but  a  small  portion  of  the  "  Gospels  " 
that  were  in  possession  of  the  Christians  of  the  third  and 
fourth  centuries ;  nor  is  there  any  absolute  and  satisfac- 
tory proof  that  they  were  ever  written  by  the  persons 
whose  names  they  bear,  and  that  they  passed,  unaltered, 
from  generation  to  generation  through  the  hands  of  honest 
custodians  and  faithful  transcribers.  Indeed  it  appears 
that  at  the  Council  of  Laodicea,  A.D.  363,  there  were 
two  hundred  varied  versions  of  the  adopted  Evangelists, 
and  fifty-four  several  Gospels,  all  differing  essentially 
from  each  other,  and  each  purporting  to  be  a  true  account 
of  Jesus.  From  these  our  four  Gospels  were  selected. 
But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  present  Gospels 
are  not  originals,  but  taken  from  copies  of  the  sixth  cent- 
ury, which  in  turn  were  taken  from  some  other  unknown 
copies.  There  are  no  copies  in  existence,  bearing  a  date 
nearer  to  the  time  of  Jesus  than  five  hundred  years. 

And  this  question  of  the  origin  and  authenticity  of  the 
Scriptures  appears  to  have  been  a  grave  matter  of  doubt 
in  the  Christian  Church.  Nearly  twelve  hundred  years 
after  the  meeting  of  the  Council  at  Laodicea,  that  is, 
A.D.  1545,  another  Council  assembled  at  Trent  and  de- 
cided and  ordered  what  was  and  what  was  not  genuine. 
It  is  not  pretended,  we  believe,  that  the  prelates  who 
composed  this  Council  were  themselves  inspired  by  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Nevertheless,  being  fallible  men,  they  dealt 
in  summary  fashion  with  spiritual  affairs,  and  declared 


Councils  Assume  Infallible  Power        9 

that  their  own  infallibility  was  beyond  doubt.  The  first- 
named  conclave  having  made  its  selection  of  the  four 
Gospels,  this  one  picked  out  a  special  version  of  the 
Bible,  termed  the  Vulgate,  and  pronounced  it  the  only 
true  one ;  made  the  Apocrypha  an  integral  part  of  it ; 
proclaimed  that  the  Church  alone  was  at  liberty  to  inter- 
pret whatever  might  be  doubtful ;  and  added  the  extra- 
ordinary edict,  that  tradition  was  to  be,  equally  with  the 
Bible,  a  rule  of  faith.  Under  this  rule  was  comprised 
that  incomprehensible  and  much-disputed  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  which  is  now  held  to  be  essential  to  man's  sal- 
vation, although  no  warrant  for  it  can  be  found  in  the 
Christian's  text-book,  the  Bible.  Its  reception  as  an 
indispensable  part  of  the  creed  had  been  disputed  with 
the  acrimony  that  distinguishes  all  combatants  for  faith 
of  man's  invention,  as  the  records  of  other  famous  ec- 
clesiastical Councils  show — notably  that  of  Nice,  A.D.  325. 
Its  worth,  however,  and  its  binding  character,  ought  not 
to  be  much  enhanced,  even  in  the  view  of  Christians 
themselves,  by  remembrance  of  the  fact  that  at  least 
three  centuries  elapsed  after  Jesus'  death  before  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity  obtained  a  hold  upon  the  worshippers 
of  his  name.  But  Councils  were  omnipotent — as  witness 
the  second  one  at  Nice,  A.D.  787,  that  declared  the  wor- 
ship of  images  and  of  the  cross  to  be  sanctioned  by  the 
Holy  Scriptures. 

These  astounding  assumptions  of  irresponsible  and  in- 
fallible power,  by  men  pretending  to  deal  with  divine 
things,  would  be  deemed  impious  and  disgusting,  if  time 
and  habit  and  the  artful  management  of  the  priesthood 
had  not  tended  to  make  men  impervious  to  historical 
truth  and  logical  argument.  We  ask,  then,  with  reference 
to  the  Scriptures,  whether,  if  a  similar  claim  of  divine 
origin  and  unquestionable  authenticity  were  put  forward 
on  behalf  of  the  sacred  books  of  any  other  sect  which 
Christians  agree  in  condemning,  they  would  be  accepted 


io  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

as  aught  else  than  fiction.  Take,  for  example,  Mat- 
thew's story  of  the  great  convulsion  of  nature  at  the 
crucifixion,  when  the  earth  is  said  to  have  been  shaken 
and  many  bodies  of  the  saints  to  have  risen  from  their 
graves  and  appeared  unto  many.  Such  a  story  could 
scarcely  have  been  told  in  the  hearing  of  any  one, 
whether  Jew  or  Roman,  who  had  been  a  contemporary 
of  Jesus;  and  it  has  no  place  in  Roman  or  Jewish  his- 
tory. Again,  as  to  the  slaughter  of  all  the  male  infants 
of  Judea,  in  order  that  the  youthful  Christ  might  be 
destroyed,  commonly  called  the  Massacre  of  the  Inno- 
cents,— what  corroborative  evidence  have  we  of  any  such 
act  of  atrocity  having  been  committed  by  Herod  ?  If 
Herod  was  chargeable  with  such  an  act  of  barbarity,  it 
cannot  be  doubted  that  Josephus  would  have  made  some 
mention  of  it.  But  his  very  silence  is  the  best  evidence 
we  could  have  to  the  contrary.  He  fills  thirty-seven 
chapters  with  the  history  of  Herod,  and  has  treated 
minutely  of  all  the  principal  cruelties  for  which  he  is 
responsible  ;  but  of  this  special  massacre  he  makes  no 
mention.  Philo,  also,  who  lived  at  the  time,  and  the 
Rabbins  who  were  assiduous  to  blacken  Herod's  mem- 
ory»  give  not  the  slightest  hint  of  so  monstrous  a  decree. 
Indeed  we  find  that  the  three  Evangelists,  Mark,  Luke, 
and  John,  agree  with  the  historians  of  those  times  in 
their  total  silence  on  this  subject.  It  is,  however,  a 
curious  and  most  noteworthy  coincidence,  that  in  the 
sacred  writings  of  the  Hindoos  there  is  a  similar  story 
related  of  the  tyrant  Kanga,  in  connection  with  the  birth 
of  the  Hindoo  god,  Crishna.  Sir  William  Jones  bears  test- 
imony to  the  remarkable  similarity  that  exists  between 
Crishna's  life  and  actions  and  the  life  and  actions  of  Jesus, 
declaring  expressly  that  it  is  impossible  to  deny  it.  He 
says  that  Crishna's  name  and  the  general  traditions  con- 
cerning him  were  extant  long  anterior  to  the  birth  of 
Jesus,  and  probably  anterior  also  to  the  time  of  Homer. 


Psychological  Source  of  Legends         1 1 

The  celebrated  poem  Bkagavat,  which  contains  an  ac- 
count of  Crishna's  life,  is  filled  with  a  narrative  of  the 
most  extraordinary  kind.  The  incarnate  Deity  was  cra- 
dled among  herdsmen  or  shepherds.  A  tyrant,  at  the 
time  of  his  birth,  ordered  all  new-born  males  to  be  slain ; 
and  yet  this  new-born  babe  was  preserved  in  the  most 
wonderful  manner.  He  performed  amazing  miracles  in 
his  infancy,  and  at  the  age  of  seven  years  held  up  a  moun- 
tain on  the  tip  of  his  finger  ;  he  saved  multitudes  by  his  mi- 
raculous powers  ;  and  he  raised  the  dead.  But  he  was  the 
meekest  and  mildest  of  created  beings  ;  he  washed  the  feet 
of  the  Brahmins,  and  preached  very  nobly  and  sublimely. 
He  was  pure,  and  chaste,  and  benevolent,  and  tender. 

Again,  to  show  how  prone  the  popular  imagination  of 
the  ancients  was  to  fictions  of  this  kind,  we  borrow  some 
illustrations  from  the  pages  of  Strauss.  He  points  out 
that  the  life  of  a  child  destined  for  great  objects,  who 
is  endangered  and  miraculously  preserved,  is  one  of  the 
fundamental  themes  of  all  heroic  legends,  and  found  re- 
curring in  those  of  the  Hebrews,  the  Persians,  and  the 
Romans.  To  say  nothing  of  the  dangers  which  threat- 
ened the  life  of  Zeus,  or  of  Hercules,  and  of  the  mode  in 
which  they  were  averted,  something  similar  occurs  in  the 
history  of  the  infancy  of  Moses,  in  the  Pentateuch ;  of 
Isaac,  in  a  later  Jewish  legend  ;  of  Cyrus,  in  Herodotus  ; 
of  Romulus,  in  Livy;  of  the  childhood  of  the  first 
Roman  Emperor,  according  to  Suetonius,  himself  living 
in  the  century  that  saw  the  birth  and  death  of  Jesus ; 
and  then  in  that  of  the  Christian  Messiah,  in  the  Gospel 
of  Matthew.  The  idea  is  carried  out  in  all  these  in- 
stances in  a  manner  so  similar  that  it  is  impossible  to 
doubt  the  influence  of  one  legend  upon  the  other,  or  to 
overlook  the  common  psychological  source  of  all.  This 
source  is  that  peculiar  propensity  which  leads  men  to 
make  the  value  of  a  good  or  great  man  the  more  sensibly 
felt  by  setting  forth  on  one  side  the  near  approach  of  his 


12  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

possible  loss,  and  on  the  other  the  care  of  Providence  for 
his  preservation.  The  combined  influence  of  the  two  — 
that  is  to  say,  the  inherent  desire  to  enhance  the  value  of 
what  was  esteemed,  and  the  multiplicity  of  the  examples 
around — may  well  account  for  these  fables  of  imminent 
danger  and  supernatural  protection,  as  introduced  into  the 
life  of  Jesus. 

In  the  record  of  the  infancy  of  Jesus,  the  mode  in 
which  the  danger  is  brought  about  is  also  peculiar.  The 
cause  of  it  is  a  Star,  which  appears  in  heaven  and 
guides  certain  Eastern  Magi  to  Jerusalem,  where  their 
inquiries  after  the  new-born  King  of  the  Jews  attract  the 
attention  of  Herod  the  Great.  Thus  the  Star  appears  as 
the  means  of  the  endangerment  of  Jesus'  life.  Still,  this 
portion  of  the  legend  had  an  object  of  its  own.  There  is 
a  belief,  reaching  from  remote  antiquity  even  to  our  own 
times,  that  new  appearances  of  stars,  particularly  comets, 
coming  unexpectedly  and  vanishing  again,  prognosticate 
revolutions  in  human  affairs,  and  the  birth  and  death 
of  great  men.  Men  start  from  the  supposition  that  so 
striking  a  phenomenon  in  the  heavens  must  have,  corre- 
sponding to  it,  a  similar  one  on  earth,  affecting  mankind. 
Thus,  when  an  historical  event  happens  which  it  is 
wished  particularly  to  distinguish,  some  extraordinary 
natural  phenomenon  that  never  took  place  is  invented 
to  chime  in  with  it.  Thus  we  read  in  Rubeni,  a  rabbini- 
cal author,  that  at  the  moment  of  Abraham's  birth  a  star 
stood  in  the  East,  which  swallowed  up  four  other  stars, 
each  appearing  in  one  of  the  four  quarters  of  the  heavens. 
Justin  also  tells  another  of  these  fictitious  tales  about 
Mithridates,  to  the  effect  that  in  the  year  in  which  he  was 
born,  and  in  that  of  his  accession,  a  comet  appeared,  and 
continued  visible  on  each  occasion  for  four  hours  during 
every  day,  and  for  seventy  successive  days.  It  was  of  so 
large  a  size,  and  so  bright,  that  it  occupied  a  quarter  of 
the  sky,  and  outshone  the  brightness  of  the  sun.  Before 


Legends  Concerning  Children  13 

the  birth  of  Augustus,  it  was  said  to  have  been  progno- 
sticated at  Rome,  by  a  prodigy,  that  Nature  was  pregnant 
with  a  King  for  the  Roman  people.  According  to  Jewish 
writings,  the  account  of  the  peril  which  threatened  the 
life  of  the  Lawgiver  had  its  parallel  also  in  the  history 
of  the  Patriarch  of  the  nation.  In  this  case  Pharaoh  is 
Nimrod.  In  one  account,  Nimrod  sees  a  star  in  a  dream  ; 
this  star,  according  to  the  other  account,  actually  appears 
in  the  sky,  and  his  sages  explain  it  to  him  to  mean  that  a 
son  is  at  that  moment  born  to  Tharah,  from  whom  shall 
come  a  mighty  nation  destined  to  inherit  the  present  and 
the  future  world.  Observe  also  that  when,  at  length,  the 
same  embellishment  had  been  introduced  into  the  history 
of  the  infancy  of  Jesus,  it  was  introduced  into  the  history 
of  the  infancy  of  John  the  Baptist,  who,  having  been 
endangered  by  the  massacre  at  Bethlehem,  was  also  said 
to  have  been  preserved  by  a  miracle. 

Now,  in  the  legends  of  Cyrus,  Romulus,  and  Abraham 
the  tyrants  give  special  orders  for  murdering  only  the 
children  who  are  pointed  out  as  dangerous  to  them.  The 
narratives  concerning  Moses,  Augustus,  and  Jesus  resem- 
ble each  other  in  this— that  the  potentates  seek  to  catch 
the  destined  infant,  who  is  unknown  to  them  personally, 
in  a  wide  net,  together  with  others.  The  story,  then,  in 
relation  to  the  wholesale  massacre  by  Herod  is  totally 
unworthy  of  credence  or  historical  consideration,  as  before 
remarked.  Neither  will  it  stand  the  test  of  criticism, 
when  considered  in  relation  to  the  justice  and  omniscience 
of  the  Almighty  ;  for  if  God  specially  interposed  to  blind 
the  mind  of  Herod  by  suggesting  to  the  Magi  that  they 
should  not  return  to  Jerusalem  to  notify  him  of  the  cir- 
cumstances, why  did  He  not  inspire  them  to  proceed,  in 
the  first  instance,  direct  to  Bethlehem?  Herod  would 
thus  have  been  in  ignorance  of  the  child's  existence,  and 
this  cruel  and  unnecessary  massacre  would  have  been 
entirely  avoided  —  that  is,  if  it  ever  occurred. 


14  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

The  date  when  these  fables  were  introduced  into  the 
New  Testament  is  not  of  much  importance,  even  if  it 
were  possible  to  discover  it.  We  know,  however,  that 
the  early  Christians  not  only  accepted  the  mythology  of 
Moses,  but  that  they  superadded  a  mythology  of  their 
own,  of  which  these  extraordinary  stories  form  a  part, 
and  that  the  result  of  the  union  was  a  system  of  theology 
or  belief,  in  which  the  teachings  of  Moses  and  of  the 
Apostles  and  Jesus  were  blended,  and  for  upwards  of 
fourteen  hundred  years — not  improperly  called  the  "  Dark 
Ages" — were  taught  and  accepted  as  a  part  and  parcel 
of  Christianity.  No  one,  during  these  dark  ages,  was 
allowed  to  separate  the  history  and  the  mythology  from 
the  doctrine.  They  were  denied  the  liberty  of  rejecting 
the  one  and  accepting  the  other,  under  the  severest  pen- 
alties in  this  world,  and  the  threat  of  eternal  damnation 
in  the  next.  He  who  accepted  the  doctrines  of  Christ- 
ianity was  compelled  also  to  accept,  or  pretend  so  to  do, 
the  most  senseless  fables  and  theories  that  were  presented 
to  him,  or  be  anathematised.  He  was  required  to  believe 
the  most  incredible  statements ;  among  them,  that  this 
earth,  together  with  the  planetary  system,  of  which  it  is 
a  member,  was  created  only  about  four  thousand  years 
before  the  birth  of  Jesus.  Even  as  late  as  toward  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century  Columbus,  the  discoverer  of 
this  continent,  was  excommunicated  and  branded  as  a 
heretic  by  one  of  the  boasted  successors  of  St.  Peter,  for 
advancing  the  theory  that  the  earth  is  spherical,  in  op- 
position to  the  idea  that  it  is  a  mere  extended  plane. 

It  was  also  incumbent  that  he  should  believe  a  thou- 
sand other  absurdities :  that  the  sun  revolved  round  the 
earth  ;  that  God  dwells  in  a  local  habitation,  a  place  called 
Heaven,  and  the  Devil  in  a  place  called  Hell ;  that  God 
made  a  man  and  a  woman,  and  placed  them  in  a  garden, 
intending  that  they  and  their  progeny  should  live  forever 
in  this  world — happy,  innocent,  naked,  and  having  no- 


Incredible  Statements  of  Old  Testament     15 

thing  to  do ;  that  in  this  purpose,  however,  God  was 
thwarted  by  Satan,  or  the  Devil,  who,  in  the  form  of  a 
serpent,  persuaded  the  woman  to  eat  of  the  fruit  of  a  tree 
called  the  Tree  of  Knowledge,  of  which  God  had  forbid- 
den them  to  eat,  under  penalty  of  death ;  that  they  did 
eat,  and  that  they  fell  from  their  state  of  innocence, 
happiness,  and  nudity ;  that  God,  offended  at  their  dis- 
obedience, drove  them  out  of  the  garden,  imposed  labour 
upon  them  as  a  curse,  and  taught  them  the  use  of  clothes  ; 
that  the  first  two  men,  born  of  this  original  pair,  quarrelled 
because  God  was  better  pleased  to  accept  a  sacrifice  of  fat 
cattle  roasted  with  fire  upon  an  altar,  from  Abel,  than  a 
bloodless  offering  of  herbs  and  fruits  from  Cain,  and  that 
Cain,  therefore,  slew  his  brother  in  a  fit  of  anger ;  that  the 
race  of  men,  born  of  Adam  and  Eve,  becoming  utterly 
corrupt  and  wicked,  God  repented  that  He  had  made 
such  ungrateful  and  abominable  creatures,  and  resolved  to 
drown  the  whole  race  of  men,  as  well  as  the  beasts  of  the 
field  and  the  fowls  of  the  air,  which  had  not  offended 
Him  ;  that  He  spared  but  one  man  and  his  family,  saved 
in  an  ark,  together  with  a  single  pair  of  all  created  ani- 
mals and  birds  ;  that  the  progeny  of  these  miraculously 
preserved  men  and  women  afterwards  divided  the  earth 
among  themselves,  but  were  in  no  degree  better  than  the 
progeny  of  Adam  and  Eve,  and  continually  vexed  the 
Almighty,  and  stirred  Him  to  fierce  wrath  by  their  fear- 
ful wickedness;  that  a  man  named  Nimrod,  a  great  king 
and  hunter,  conceived  the  idea  that  Heaven,  the  abode  of 
God,  was  just  above  or  in  the  clouds,  and  not  more  diffi- 
cult of  access  than  the  tops  of  the  highest  mountains, 
and  that  he  could  build  a  tower  to  reach  to  God's  throne  ; 
that  God,  apprehensive  that  he  might  succeed  in  the  at- 
tempt, defeated  his  sacrilegious  purpose  by  confounding 
the  language  of  the  men  who  wrought  upon  it,  so  that 
they  could  not  understand  each  other,  and  had  to  desist 
from  their  labours — whereas  all  that  was  necessary  to  be 


1 6  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

done  was  to  leave  Nimrod  and  the  ignorant  work-people 
alone,  until  their  means  and  patience  were  exhausted  ; 
that  God  chose  the  Jews  for  his  peculiar  people  out  of 
His  mere  grace  and  favour,  and  for  no  good  that  they 
had  ever  done ;  but  that  Moses  never  could  make  the 
Jews  understand  who  God  was,  or  in  what  respect  He  was 
wiser  than,  or  superior  to,  the  pretended  gods  of  neigh- 
bouring nations ;  that  this  people  was  enslaved  by  the 
Egyptians,  remained  in  slavery  for  several  hundred  years, 
and  was  miraculously  freed  from  bondage  after  God  had 
caused  the  death  of  all   the  first-born  male  children  of 
Egypt,  and  afflicted  the  land  and  the  people  with  in- 
numerable plagues — not  on  account  of  the  sins  of   the 
Egyptians,  but  solely  on  account  of  the  stubbornness  of 
Pharaoh,  their  king,  who  as  often  as  he  relented  had  his 
heart  hardened  by  God  Himself,  in  order  that  he  might 
be  further  plagued  and  punished ;  that  the  Jews,  when 
they  had  established  themselves  in  Canaan,  by  the  mas- 
sacre of  the  original  possessors  of  the  land,  grew  weary  of 
a  priestly  government,  and  demanded  to  have  a  king, 
like  their  neighbours;  that  God  endeavoured,  but  in  vain, 
to  dissuade  them  from  their  purpose,  and,  yielding  at  last 
to  their  importunity,  chose  a  king  for  them  in  the  person 
of  Saul,  for  no  other  recorded  reason  than  that  he  was 
taller,  by  the  head  and  shoulders,  than  any  of  his  people  ; 
that  Saul  reigned  indifferently  well  over  the  Jews,  but 
offended  God  past  all  hope  of  forgiveness  because  he  was 
more  merciful  than  his  Maker,  and  would  not,  after  he 
had  conquered  and  overthrown  his  enemies  in  fair  battle, 
rip  up  the  bellies  of  women  with  child,  put  all  the  child- 
ren, male  and  female,  to  the  sword,  and  destroy  all  their 
horses,  oxen,  sheep,  and  other  cattle ;  that  Joshua  made 
the  sun  to  stand  still  at  his  bidding — an  event  which,  if  it 
could  have  occurred,  would  have  reduced  the  solar  system 
to  chaos.     All  these  and  many  other  stories,  which  it  is 
needless   to   recapitulate, —  evidently   mythological,  and 


The  Same  Claimed  for  Godama         1 7 

many  of  them  allegorical, — Christianity  now,  as  then, 
requires  to  be  literally  accepted  as  positively  and  divine- 
ly true,  under  penalty  of  all  the  plethora  of  curses,  tem- 
poral and  eternal,  that  angry  priestcraft  can  pronounce. 

And  the  mythology  of  the  New  Testament  is  imposed 
as  ruthlessly  upon  the  believer  as  that  of  the  Old.     Indeed 
the  former  was  engrafted  upon  the  latter ;  and  both  must 
be  accepted,  without  question  or  hesitation,  as  equally 
true.      As  man  had  fallen  under  Adam,  he  was  to  be 
lifted  up  under  Jesus ;    but  as  God  required  a  sacrifice 
before  He  could  forgive  the  human  race  for  the  trans- 
gression of  Adam  and  Eve,  Jesus,  being  himself   God, 
offered  himself  a  sacrifice  to  his  Father,  who  was  also 
God, — though  there  was  but  one  God, — and  the  sacrifice 
was  accepted.      As  an  evidence  of  this,  it  is  asserted  that 
when  he  died  upon  the  cross  all  nature  was  convulsed  by 
the  event ;  the  earth  upheaved,  and  the  dead  rose  out  of 
their  graves  and  walked  through  the  streets,  in  sight  of 
the  awestricken  multitudes.     This  was  a  marvel  and  a 
mystery,  which  no  human  being  could  understand  ;  but  it 
was  to  be  received  as  a  dogma  and  an  article  of  faith, 
without  believing  in  which,  no  one  could  enjoy  the  bene- 
fit of  the  transcendent  sacrifice,  or  live  in  the  next  world, 
except  in  fire  and  brimstone  and  eternal  torment.     For 
the  purpose  of  teaching  the  new  theology  and  of  perform- 
ing this  sacrifice,  God,  in  the  person  of  the  man  Jesus, 
came  into  the  world  and  wrought  many  miracles  to  con- 
vince the  people  of  the  Divinity  alike  of  his  character  and 
mission.     But  so  also  was  it  claimed  by  and  for  Godama, 
who  founded  the  theological  system  which  now  prevails 
in  the  Burmese  Empire.      "  I,  a  god,"  said  he,  "  having 
departed  out  of  this  world,  will  preserve  my  laws  and  my 
disciples  in  it  for  the  space    of   five   thousand   years." 
Again,  the  people  of  Judea  believed  that  the  diseases  of 
the  human  body  were  to  a  great  extent  due  to  the  agency 
of  devils — the  number  of  the  devils  being  infinite — and 


1 8  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

that  they  entered  corporeally  into  the  blood,  the  bones, 
the  brain,  and  the  intestines  of  epileptics,  cataleptics, 
apoplectics,  lepers,  lunatics,  maniacs,  and  other  unhappy 
persons  afflicted  with  bodily  or  mental  disorders.  As 
Jesus  was  represented  in  the  new  mythology  as  casting 
out  devils  by  an  effort  of  his  volition,  and  sometimes  as 
speaking  to  them  while  in  the  bodies  of  tormented  per- 
sons, and  ordering  them  to  come  out,  the  Christians  of 
the  Dark  Ages  were  of  necessity  taught  to  believe  that 
such  devils  really  existed,  and  that  diseases  were  the 
results  of  their  agency,  rather  than  of  natural  or  heredi- 
tary causes,  or  of  the  contravention  of  the  laws  of  health 
by  the  afflicted  persons  themselves.  The  early  Christians 
were  also  taught  to  believe  that  the  arch-devil, — the  lord 
and  king  of  all  these  minor  devils,  the  Satan  and  Beelze- 
bub of  the  Jews,  the  Ahrimanes  of  the  Persians,  the  Luci- 
fer of  the  poets, — ignorant  of  the  fact  that  Jesus  was  God, 
and  believing  that  he  was  only  an  able  and  ambitious 
man,  took  him  up  into  a  high  mountain  and  showed  him 
all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world — which  he  could  not  have 
done  from  the  top  of  any  mountain,  however  lofty — and 
promised  him  dominion  over  them,  on  the  sole  condition 
that  he,  who  was  God,  should  kneel  down  and  worship 
him,  who  was  Devil ;  that  Jesus,  without  making  himself 
known  to  him,  refused  the  offer,  saying,  "  Get  thee 
behind  me,  Satan,  thou  art  an  offence  unto  me."  More- 
over, they  were  required  to  believe  that  Jesus  raised  the 
dead  from  the  grave ;  walked  upon  the  waters  of  the  sea ; 
stilled  the  raging  of  the  tempest  by  a  motion  of  his  hand 
or  word  of  his  mouth  ;  fed  thousands  of  people,  once  with 
five,  and  once  with  seven  loaves  of  bread  and  a  few  small 
fishes — the  unconsumed  remnants  of  both,  after  the  mul- 
titude had  freely  partaken,  being  immensely  greater  than 
the  original  bulk  of  the  articles  provided ;  and  that  he 
performed  other  miracles,  all  of  which  were  of  a  bene- 
ficent, but  more  or  less  startling  character,  according  to 


The  Divinity  of  Jesus  Not  Believed     19 

the  circumstances.  But  the  most  remarkable  thing  is 
that,  notwithstanding  he  is  said  to  have  performed  such 
wonderful  things  as  we  have  enumerated,  he  never 
succeeded  in  persuading  either  the  Romans  or  the 
Jewish  people,  or  the  many  thousands  who  witnessed 
them,  or  even  his  own  immediate  followers  and  disciples, 
that  his  mission  was  to  introduce  a  new  and  spiritual 
religion,  or  that  he  was  indeed  God,  or  the  son  of  God,  in 
any  other  sense  than  that  in  which  all  men  are  God's 
children.  This  is  a  most  significant  fact ;  and  a  fact  it 
must  be  acknowledged  by  the  Christian  Church,  inasmuch 
as  it  is  borne  out  by  the  Scriptures  themselves.  The  in- 
difference of  the  Romans  is  shown  in  Pilate's  washing  his 
hands  of  Christ's  blood,  and  in  the  temperate  dealings  of 
Festus  and  Agrippa  with  Paul.  How  Christ  impressed 
the  leading  Jews  is  proved  by  the  manner  in  which  they 
persecuted  him  and  put  him  to  death.  What  the  multi- 
tudes thought  of  him  may  be  gathered  from  the  reiterated 
testimony  of  the  Evangelists,  to  the  effect  that  the  people 
"  understood  not  his  sayings,"  that  they  "  marvelled 
greatly,"  that  they  were  "  astonished  at  his  doctrine," 
that  they  were  "  very  attentive  to  hear  him,"  and  that 
the  fullest  extent  of  their  conviction  went  no  further  than 
this  :  "  they  rejoiced  at  all  the  glorious  things  that  were 
done  by  him."  It  is  nowhere  recorded  that  they  looked 
upon  him  as  the  veritable  son  of  God,  co-equal  with  God, 
and  voluntarily  sacrificing  himself  as  an  expiation  for 
Adam's  original  sin  —  nor  did  he  claim  this  himself.  As 
to  the  immediate  contemporaries,  followers,  and  intimate 
attendants  upon  Christ,  it  is  only  needful  to  remind  the 
reader  of  what  happened  when  all  his  personal  influence 
and  all  the  effect  of  his  whole  career  culminated  in  his 
final  interview  with  the  eleven  disciples,  after  his  resur- 
rection. St.  Mark  says  that  he  upbraided  them  for  their 
unbelief  and  hardness  of  heart.  Yet  St.  Matthew  says, 
with  a  candour  that  is  absolutely  killing — in  reference  also 


20  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

to  Jesus'  last  intercourse  with  those  favoured  individuals 
— "  but  some  doubted  !  "  The  disciples,  therefore,  in  the 
presence  of  their  risen  Master,  were  very  far  from  exhib- 
iting an  implicit  and  unreserved  faith,  at  the  moment  of 
all  others  when  they  should  have  experienced  it  to  the 
innermost  core.  What,  we  ask,  has  the  Church  done  to 
make  belief  in  all  these  stories  acceptable  to  us  in  these 
days,  when  we  find  them  less  and  less  able  to  bear  the 
test  of  calm  and  critical  examination  ? 

It  was  only  after  Christ's  death  that  Christianity,  un- 
der a  new  phase,  began  to  develop  itself  and  to  dispossess 
the  previously  existing  paganism  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
Then  it  was  that  the  priests  and  the  popes  who  had  charge 
of  the  new  doctrine,  arrogated  to  themselves  and  to  their 
"  Saints,"  both  living  and  dead,  the  miraculous  and  super- 
natural powers  which  they  at  first  claimed  only  for  their 
Divine  Master.  A  new  series  of  wonders  was  invented 
suitable  for  the  credulous  and  ignorant  multitudes.  These 
found  ready  credence  in  an  age  when  kings  and  emperors 
could  not  even  read  or  write ;  indeed,  when  there  were 
no  books,  and  but  very  few  accessible  manuscripts ;  and 
when  the  mass  of  mankind  were  sunk  in  the  deepest 
mental  darkness — impenetrable  even  to  such  rays  of  light 
as  gleamed  and  flashed  from  the  lustrous  learning  and 
eloquence  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  philosophers.  Know- 
ledge was  trodden  down  by  the  furious  wars  that  followed 
the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.  What  little  remained  of 
it  the  priests  possessed,  and  used — as  priests  invariably 
do — to  enslave  the  intellect  of  the  people.  And  thus, 
in  process  of  time,  a  third  mythology  was  superadded 
to  the  mythology  of  the  Pentateuch  and  the  four  Gos- 
pels, fully  as  marvellous  and  as  contrary  to  the  laws  of 
nature  and  to  all  human  experience  as  its  predecessors. 
In  this  mythology,  Mary  —  the  "Mother  of  God"  —  is 
raised  to  the  Divine  rank  of  Queen  of  Heaven,  and  plays 
a  most  conspicuous  part  in  the  Church  which  bears  the 


Mythology  of  the  Virgin  Mary          2 1 

name  of  her  Son.  In  fact,  it  is  said  that  she  enacts  won- 
ders more  wonderful  than  any  attributed  to  him.  She 
condescends  to  enter  into  images  and  statues  carved  in 
her  honour ;  and,  as  an  incontrovertible  evidence  of  her 
presence  therein,  she  makes  them  wink  their  eyes,  and 
shed  real  tears  over  the  agonies  of  those  penitents  who 
supplicate  her  mercy  and  her  mediation  with  her  blessed 
Son.  Her  pictures,  too,  work  miraculous  cures  on  the 
deaf,  the  dumb,  and  the  blind,  provided  they  are  touched 
in  a  properly  reverential  and  confiding  spirit.  She  ap- 
pears visibly  to  the  eyes  of  men  and  women,  and  promises 
her  intercession  with  her  Son  in  Heaven,  for  the  forgive- 
ness of  all  who  truly  believe  in  herself  and  in  him.  Nor 
this  alone ;  the  relics  of  real  or  supposed  saints  and 
martyrs  are  also  endowed  with  virtue  to  heal  diseases. 
Nay,  even  pieces  of  the  wood  of  the  cross  on  which  Jesus 
had  suffered — that  was  supposed  to  have  been  discovered 
in  a  heap  of  ancient  and  indistinguishable  rubbish  in  the 
Golgotha  of  Jerusalem,  through  the  pious  agencies  of 
the  Empress  Helena,  more  than  three  hundred  years 
after  the  crucifixion  —  were  also  endowed  with  similar 
powers  and  attributes  of  divinity.  Mr.  Charles  Mackay, 
in  his  Memoirs  of  Extraordinary  Popular  D  elusions ,  says 
that  it  is  among  ".the  traditions  of  the  Romish  Church 
that  the  Empress  Helen,  the  mother  of  Constantine  the 
Great,  first  discovered  the  veritable  '  True  Cross/  in  her 
pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem.  The  Emperor  Theodosius  made 
a  present  of  the  greater  part  of  it  to  St.  Ambrose,  Bishop 
of  Milan,  by  whom  it  was  studded  with  precious  stones, 
and  deposited  in  the  principal  church  of  that  city.  It 
was  carried  away  by  the  Huns,  by  whom  it  was  burnt 
after  they  had  extracted  the  valuable  jewels  it  contained. 
Fragments  purporting  to  have  been  cut  from  it  were,  in 
the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  to  be  found  in  almost 
every  church  in  Europe,  and  would,  if  collected  together 
in  one  place,  have  been  almost  sufficient  to  have  built  a 


22  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

cathedral.  Happy  was  the  sinner  who  could  get  a  sight 
of  one  of  them ;  happier  he  who  possessed  one.  To  ob- 
tain them,  the  greatest  dangers  were  cheerfully  braved. 
They  were  thought  to  preserve  from  all  evils,  and  to  cure 
the  most  inveterate  diseases.  Annual  pilgrimages  were 
made  to  the  shrines  that  contained  them,  and  consider- 
able revenues  were  collected  from  the  devotees."  Tears 
of  Jesus,  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  of  John  the  beloved  disci- 
ple, and  even  of  Peter,  who  denied  his  Master  when  he 
fell  into  trouble  and  suspicion,  were  also  discovered  in 
Judea,  where  they  had  been  divinely  and  miraculously 
preserved  for  centuries,  and  brought  to  Europe  at  the 
time  of  the  Crusades.  They  were  kept  in  churches  and 
cathedrals,  to  be  exhibited  on  great  occasions,  and  when 
there  was  any  chance  of  making  money  by  the  exhibition 
or  sale  of  them  to  the  faithful.  For,  be  it  observed,  the 
laws  of  evaporation  and  absorption  must,  ever  since  they 
were  shed,  have  been  miraculously  suspended.  These 
tears  work  supernatural  cures,  too,  when  enshrined  in 
little  glass  beads  and  worn  on  the  bosom,  or  even  if  the 
beads  that  contain  them  are  held  in  the  hand  or  pressed 
to  the  lips  of  the  devout  Christian.  But  to  continue. 
The  nails  with  which  the  hands  and  feet  of  Jesus  were 
pierced  to  fasten  him  on  the  cross,  and  even  the  thorns  of 
the  crown  with  which  he  was  mockingly  arrayed  by  his 
persecutors,  found  their  way  to  Europe  in  large  quanti- 
ties. It  has  been  alleged  by  historians  that  there  was 
iron  enough  in  all  these  nails,  if  collected  and  thrown  into 
the  furnace,  to  have  made  a  thousand  ploughshares.  And 
yet  each  nail  was  supposed  to  be  divinely  endowed  with 
the  power  of  working  miracles  to  prove  the  truth  of  the 
Christian  doctrine ! 

But  while  this  new  mythology  was  growing  and  expand- 
ing and  exercising  its  pernicious  sway  over  the  intellect 
of  men  —  and  especially  of  women,  who  are  always  the 
greatest  upholders  of  the  churches,  in  all  parts  of  the 


Influence  of  the  Printing  Press          23 

world  and  in  all  ages  —  the  printing  press  came  into  opera- 
tion. By  its  influence  in  stimulating  men  to  increased 
mental  and  physical  activity,  and  facilitating  the  opera- 
tion of  many  minds  one  upon  another  for  the  good  of  the 
whole,  it  aimed  a  heavy  blow  at  superstition  and  priest- 
craft. From  that  era  and  from  that  invention  went  forth 
an  impetus  in  the  affairs  of  mankind,  a  rapidity  of  ad- 
vancement in  the  arts,  sciences,  and  civilisation,  unpre- 
cedented in  the  history  of  the  world,  ensuring  a  far  more 
splendid  inheritance  to  those  who  come  after  us  than 
that  to  which  we  have  ourselves  succeeded.  One  of  its 
first  results  was  the  multiplication  of  copies  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  which  were  translated  into  the 
English,  German,  French,  and  other  European  languages, 
and  placed  for  the  first  time  in  the  hands  of  other  people 
than  the  clergy.  A  second  result  was  the  growth  of  a 
conviction  that  the  new  mythology  of  the  Romish  priest- 
hood, that  had  grown  up  in  the  Dark  Ages,  was  an  ex- 
crescence upon  Christianity,  formed  no  part  of  its  spirit 
or  teaching,  and  was  not  to  be  believed  or  accepted  as 
truth.  Many  men  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  first 
two  mythologies  —  those  of  M.oses  and  the  Gospels — were 
quite  sufficient  for  belief,  and  were  to  be  accepted  on  ac- 
count of  their  venerable  antiquity.  They  rejected  the 
third  mythology,  and  made  up  their  minds  that  its  mira- 
cles—  performed  by  winking  Virgins,  pieces  of  the  True 
Cross,  and  toe-nails  of  the  Saints,  were  no  miracles  at  all, 
but  cheats,  shams,  and  impostures,  only  invented  to  prop 
up  an  ecclesiastical  system  which  had  degenerated  into  a 
trade,  to  impose  and  prey  upon  the  less  gifted  and  cult- 
ivated, and  to  perpetuate  the  physical  power  and  intel- 
lectual domination  of  the  priesthood.  The  prevalence  of 
free  thought  increased  in  an  advancing  ratio  ;  and  about 
this  time  what  is  termed  the  Reformation  took  place. 
The  protest  on  this  occasion  was  strong  so  far  as  it  went ; 
but  it  was  partial  and  incomplete.  It  protested  against  the 


24  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

truth  of  the  modern,  not  of  the  ancient  miracles ;  against 
the  Pope,  not  against  the  historical  and  scientific  false- 
hoods and  errors  inherited  by  him  and  his  predecessors 
from  the  original  Christians,  or  by  the  original  Christians 
from  the  so-called  sacred  Books  ascribed  to  Moses  and  the 
Evangelists.  The  Protestantism  of  that  dawning  day 
protested  against  all  doctrine  but  that  contained  in  the 
BOOK,  and  built  up  a  new  idol,  a  new  divinity,  a  new 
God,  in  the  shape  of  the  BIBLE,  which  they  set  on  high 
in  the  face  of  men,  to  be  worshipped  by  all  who  would 
escape  eternal  perdition.  It  rejected  one  third  of  a  false 
system,  and  took  the  other  two  thirds  to  its  heart,  and 
enshrined  them  there  as  infallible,  unerring,  perpetual,  and 
divine.  Yet  this  partial  protest  was  of  inestimable  value 
to  future  generations.  It  was  the  thin  end  of  the  wedge 
introduced  into  the  hard  block  of  superstition.  He  who 
protests  a  little  to-day  may  protest  a  great  deal  to-morrow. 
The  very  fact  of  a  protest  amounts  to  a  declaration  of 
independence  in  thought ;  and  Protestantism  —  as  soon 
as  it  had  begun  to  protest  —  deprived  itself  of  the  power 
of  saying  to  any  clearer-sighted,  better-informed,  and 
more  courageous  protestant  than  itself :  "  Thus  far  shalt 
thou  protest,  and  no  farther !  "  This  was  a  mighty  ad- 
vantage ;  and  the  Romish  Church,  with  the  keen  instinct 
of  self-preservation,  felt  and  knew  it  to  be  so,  and  waged 
war  to  the  death  against  the  bold,  democratic,  and  in- 
novating movement  that  threatened  to  hurl  it  from  its 
throne. 

The  disciples  of  the  reformed  faith,  as  cheerfully  as  the 
earlier  Christians  of  the  days  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter, 
went  to  the  block  and  the  stake,  to  seal  with  blood  their 
belief  in  the  conscientious  protest  which  they  had  made. 
Meanwhile  the  great  printing  press  was  busily  at  work. 
Every  succeeding  year  gave  it  new  power  for  good  and  an 
increased  momentum  in  well-doing.  The  priests  were  no 
longer  the  sole  depositories  of  learning.  The  outer  world 


Progress  of  the  Sciences  25 

penetrated  into  all  the  pretended  holy  mysteries  of  the 
clergy.  The  intellect  of  mankind  was  liberated  ;  and  no 
longer  confining  itself  to  questions  of  Theology  as  in  the 
Dark  Ages,  grappled  bravely  with  Mechanics,  Physics,  Op- 
tics, Astronomy,  Chemistry  —  all  the  Arts  and  Sciences— 
and  became,  under  this  active  exercise,  too  vigorous  and 
penetrating  to  be  longer  held  under  the  domination  of 
priestcraft.  The  cheat  was  detected  ;  spurious  teaching 
and  doctrines  began  to  be  thrown  overboard  as  useless 
lumber,  or  clogs  to  that  true  religion  which  is  founded  on 
the  real  Bible,  or  Book  of  God,  the  true  revelation  of  the 
Creator,  to  be  read  in  His  works,  terrestrial  and  celestial, 
and  in  His  impress  upon  man,  and  not  in  the  writings  of 
ignorant  and  erring,  though  possibly  well-meaning  men. 
The  law  of  Gravitation  suspected  by  Dante  and  Shake- 
speare, and  perhaps  others,  but  only  reduced  to  a  formula 
and  a  proof  positive  by  Newton  —  the  earlier  invention 
of  the  telescope,  and  the  later  invention  of  the  micro- 
scope —  the  discovery  of  the  eternal  and  sublime  forces 
sometimes  called  Galvanism,  Magnetism,  and  Electric- 
ity —  all  these  things  worked  together  for  the  exposition 
to  mankind  of  a  thousand  unsuspected  truths  of  the  Di- 
vine government  of  the  world,  whereof  the  theologies  and 
mythologies  had  never  dreamed.  All  of  these  were  con- 
sistent with  each  other,  but  inconsistent  with  the  truth 
of  the  theologies  and  mythologies,  however  seemingly 
sacred  in  the  estimation  of  mankind  the  latter  might  be. 

These  discoveries,  these  teachings,  these  expositions, 
these  promulgations,  continued  during  the  seventeenth, 
eighteenth,  and  nineteenth  centuries,  without  producing 
any  very  obvious  effect  upon  the  mythological  Christ- 
ianity, based  upon  the  fables  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments. The  mass  of  professing  Protestants  accepted  the 
new  facts,  but  gave  themselves  no  trouble  to  reconcile 
them  with  the  old  traditions.  Nevertheless,  the  spirit  of 
inquiry  which  was  so  busily  at  work  had,  and  could  not 


26  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

but  have,  its  effect  upon  the  intellect  of  the  generations 
that  were  growing  up  in  the  light  of  these  discoveries ; 
and  a  spirit  of  what  is  called  "  Infidelity  "  pervaded  the 
upper  and  educated  classes.  "  Infidelity  "  is  an  easy  word. 
To  the  Mohammedans  all  Christians  are  infidels.  To 
Christians  all  Mohammedans,  Jews,  Buddhists,  Parsees, 
and  believers  in  Mumbo  Jumbo  are  equally  "  infidels." 
Infidelity  is  no  reproach.  The  various  theologies,  inter- 
mingled with  what  is  true  in  worship,  in  different  quar- 
ters of  the  world,  are  the  creatures  of  circumstance  rather 
than  of  pure,  unmitigated,  and  conscientious  belief.  If 
Martin  Luther  had  been  born  in  China  or  Japan,  he  would 
not  have  been  a  champion  of  Protestant  Christianity.  If 
Mohammed  had  been  born  in  Scandinavia,  where  Odin  was 
worshipped,  he  might  have  established  a  new  and  peculiar 
theology ;  but  it  would  not  have  been  such  a  one  as 
that  which  now  goes  under  his  name.  In  this  sense,  the 
stigma  of  "  Infidelity,"  affixed  by  one  class  who  think  for 
themselves  in  religious  matters  upon  others  who  think 
with  quite  as  much  if  not  more  learning  and  earnestness 
to  back  them,  is  but  an  idle  word.  It  is  more  despicable 
than  an  idle  word,  when  applied  to  those  who  worship 
God  after  the  dictates  of  their  own  hearts  and  consciences, 
believing  that  love  to  God  and  good  works  constitute 
the  whole  duty  of  man.  The  Church  may  vent  its  ana- 
themas ever  so  vehemently,  now  as  heretofore ;  yet  let  it 
not  close  its  eyes  to  the  fact  that  this  religion  has  so 
deep  a  root  in  men's  natures  that  it  will  ere  long  dis- 
perse the  cloud  of  theology  with  which  the  Church  has 
endeavoured  to  overshadow  it.  In  fact  it  has  already  done 
so  to  a  much  larger  extent  than  appears  on  the  surface, 
among  the  learned,  scientific,  thinking,  and  reasoning 
men  of  our  country.  Nor  will  it  long  be  confined  to  the 
learned  and  scientific  ;  while,  as  for  the  thinking  and 
reasoning  classes  —  with  the  avenues  of  knowledge  now 
opening  to  them,  they  will  soon  become  the  majority, 


Modern  Preaching  27 

and  will  then  not  hesitate  to  declare  themselves  openly 
in  favour  of  the  first  and  only  religion. 

Indeed  its  influence  has  spread  even  to  the  clergy 
themselves.  Even  their  minds,  usurped  as  they  are  in 
most  instances  by  the  prejudices  of  education  and  the 
emoluments  of  their  profession,  are  very  much  expanded 
by  the  developments  of  scientific  investigation,  acting 
upon  and  co-operating  with  their  own  innate  conscious- 
ness of  truth.  The  effect  is,  that  while  they  do  not  preach 
with  the  enthusiasm  of  olden  times  on  such  subjects  as 
eternal  punishment,  the  personality,  power,  and  influence 
of  the  devil,  man's  total  degeneracy,  the  vengeance  of  the 
Almighty,  and  so  forth — those  of  them  who  do  not  drawl 
out  their  commonplace  sermons  as  if  they  neither  them- 
selves believed  them  nor  intended  others  to  believe  them, 
are  a  little  more  rational  in  their  course.  If  they  are  not 
bold  enough  to  enunciate  principles  directly  in  accordance 
with  natural  truths,  they  tread  lightly  on  the  subject,  and 
confine  themselves  to  such  themes  as  will  enable  them  to 
make  a  compromise  with  scientific  developments.  The 
reign  of  terror,  which  the  pulpit  once  exercised,  has  de- 
parted— "  Ichabod"  is  written  upon  it.  It  has  a  rival  in 
the  press,  which  now  occupies  the  intellectual  throne,  and 
has  things  to  say  whereto  the  pulpit  must  succumb.  And 
whenever  the  two  come  in  conflict,  it  is  not  the  pulpit 
that  is  finally  appealed  to,  as  it  once  was.  It  is  the  judg- 
ment of  public  opinion  through  the  potent  medium,  the 
press,  that  obtains  the  mastery. 

Internal  dissensions,  too,  are  vastly  weakening  to  the 
cause  of  dogmatic  Christianity.  Sects  are  everywhere 
multiplied,  and  are  multiplying ;  but  theology  is  neither 
strengthened  nor  increased  thereby.  In  fact,  it  loses 
ground  every  time  there  is  a  split  made  in  it.  This  is  as 
though  another  blow  were  struck  upon  the  wedge  intro- 
duced into  the  block  of  error.  It  is  an  addition  to  the 
force  that  is  destined  to  rive  theology  asunder  and  beat 


28  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

it  into  fragments,  so  that  it  may  be  ground  into  powder 
and  scattered  to  the  four  winds.  It  is  its  own  destruction 
— not  the  destruction  merely  of  one  of  its  parts,  because 
every  sect,  however  much  it  may  differ  from  or  denounce 
its  rival,  derives  its  authority  from  Moses  or  the  Gospels. 
Even  Mormonism,  the  last  gasping  effort  of  modern 
civilisation  to  establish  a  religion  upon  the  Bible,  finds  a 
sufficient  justification  for  polygamy  in  the  practice  of 
Abraham  and  the  Jewish  patriarchs,  who — therein  de- 
clared to  be  not  only  the  true  servants  of  God,  but  most 
favoured  by  Him  —  are  the  very  men  that  most  indulged 
in  it.  The  great  majority  of  those  who  accept  Christi- 
anity, consists  of  the  poor.  They  go  to  church  and  hear 
it  announced  that  it  is  to  them  that  the  gospel  is  preached, 
and  that  it  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of 
a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  They  are  told  that  heaven  is  a  place  where 
the  poor  of  this  world  are  recompensed  for  their  poverty 
and  misery ;  a  place  wherein  they  themselves  will  be  rich 
and  powerful ;  wherein  they  will  wear  white  robes  and 
golden  crowns,  and  whence  they  will  be  graciously  per- 
mitted to  look  down  with  the  greatest  complacency — not 
altogether  unmixed  with  human  or  even  with  inhuman 
satisfaction — upon  the  misery  of  those  Dives  in  hell,  who 
did  not  give  them  all  they  had  in  this  world,  now  in  vain 
asking  them  for  a  drop  of  water  to  cool  their  burning 
tongues.  Of  this  class  we  say  the  Church  is  largely  made 
up,  because  of  the  encouragement  and  consolation  they 
derive  or  imagine  they  derive  from  the  above  description  of 
teaching.  Others  go  to  church  for  fashion's  sake,  recrea- 
tion, excitement,  and  novelty — in  short,  more  to  see  than  to 
hear,  and  to  be  amused  by  the  priest  flaunting  before  their 
eyes  his  embroidered  garments,  the  frippery  of  stole  and 
vestment,  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  ecclesiastical  mil- 
linery. In  Roman  Catholic  countries  the  churches  are 
left  almost  wholly  to  the  women  ;  in  Protestant  countries 


Science  Undermining  Theology         29 

a  minority  of  men  still  attend,  but  mostly  as  a  duty  en- 
forced by  custom  and  fashion,  or  with  the  hope  of  being 
entertained  if  the  preacher  be  what  is  called  a  popular 
one.  If  not,  and  they  think  it  adds  to  their  respectabil- 
ity, they  go  and  listen  with  what  insomnolency  they  can 
to  an  uninteresting  discourse,  which  tells  them  nothing 
they  did  not  know  before,  and  too  much  that  flatly  con- 
tradicts the  pure  truths  of  science  and  common-sense 
facts.  But  this  state  of  things  must  soon  fall  into  decay. 
Indeed  we  find  that  even  those  who  are  in  high  places, 
and  receiving  large  emoluments  from  the  ecclesiastical 
system  to  which  they  are  attached,  are  dropping  off,  one 
by  one,  from  the  decaying  old  tree  that  has  supplied 
them  with  shelter  and  support,  and  are  coming  out  boldly 
in  defence  of  the  right.  Their  reason  becomes  too  strong 
for  that  dead  faith  which  was  instilled  into  them,  and 
which  they  have  been  trying  to  instil  into  others,  until 
their  better  sense  and  better  judgment,  aided  by  other 
minds  and  genuine  truths,  have  compelled  them  to 
abandon  it. 

In  the  first  place,  they  have  removed  out  of  the  way 
that  greatest  of  all  stumbling-blocks,  the  Pentateuch, 
which,  when  tested  by  the  truths  of  geological  discovery, 
is  shown  to  be  a  mass  of  crude  absurdities. 

And  now,  in  the  next  place,  not  only  is  the  rest  of  the 
Old  Testament  to  be  submitted  to  the  same  and  similar 
tests,  but  the  New  Testament  also  must  submit  to  go 
through  the  crucible  of  investigation,  and  stand  or  fall  by 
the  ordeal.  Everywhere  there  is  fermentation  of  thought. 
Science,  we  admit,  has  not  yet  overthrown  theology  and 
mythology  vi  et  armis,  by  battering  at  their  ancient 
walls ;  but  she  has  been  and  is  still  —  quietly  and  slowly, 
yet  perceptibly — sapping  and  mining  them  to  the  very 
foundation.  She  is  proving  her  own  truths,  as  well  as 
that  great  and  divine  principle  that  no  one  truth,  great 
or  small,  can  ever  be  hostile  to,  contradict,  or  disprove 


30  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

another.  She  is  showing,  by  an  examination  of  every- 
thing in  nature,  that  God  is  infinite  in  goodness,  infinite 
in  wisdom,  and  infinite  in  truth;  that  He  cannot  be 
what  the  Pentateuch  proclaims  Him  to  be  —  a  God  who 
has  fits  of  anger,  who  errs  and  repents  of  it ;  who  can  be 
at  one  time  what  He  is  not  at  another.  Geology  has 
demonstrated  that  the  earth  must  be  more  than  six  thou- 
sand years  old.  It  may  be  six  hundred  thousand,  or  six 
hundred  millions,  or  as  much  longer  as  the  imagination 
can  stretch,  for  all  that  we  know.  But  one  thing  is  cer- 
tain —  it  is  proved  as  conclusively  as  by  a  mathematical 
demonstration,  that  there  is  no  semblance  of  truth  in  the 
Jewish  computation  that  it  was  called  into  existence  so 
recently  as  the  Scriptures  assert.  Astronomy,  too,  has 
proved  that,  so  far  from  the  earth  being  the  most  impor- 
tant body  in  our  solar  system,  it  is  one  of  the  least  three  ; 
that  our  solar  system  itself — the  majestic  sun  and  all  the 
orbs  that  circle  around  him  —  is  but  a  comparative  speck 
in  the  infinite  immensity  of  the  sidereal  universe  ;  and  that 
the  faint  light  of  the  great  nebula  in  Orion,  seen  in  the 
summer  sky,  takes  sixty-seven  thousand  years  to  travel 
from  that  remote  portion  of  the  universe  to  our  little 
globe,  and  become  visible  to  the  eyes  of  men.  In  fact 
the  world  has  come,  or  is  fast  coming,  to  that  advanced 
state  of  progress,  when  the  men  who  really  think  for 
themselves  in  spiritual  matters  as  independently  as  they 
compare  and  judge  in  the  actual  business  of  their  lives 
will  subject  all  the  so-called  sacred  books  of  all  creeds  to 
thorough  examination,  and  relegate  them  to  the  same 
pedestals  as  are  occupied  by  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey,  or 
the  early  histories  of  ancient  nations.  They  will  believe 
all  that  is  credible,  and  reject  all  that  is  manifestly,  mathe- 
matically, and  positively  false.  To  those — and  they  in- 
clude many  of  the  leading  minds  of  our  time  —  who  are 
too  timid,  and  to  some  who  are  not  too  timid  to  declare 
themselves,  as  well  as  the  vast  numbers  who  show  their 


A  Protest  against  Theologies  31 

new  faith,  or  rather  the  rejection  of  their  old  faith,  by  the 
negative  process  of  refusing  to  lend  any  public  counte- 
nance to  it,  the  conviction  has  become  too  strong  to  be 
avoided  that  God  has  revealed  Himself  to  mankind  only 
through  His  works  as  exhibited  by  the  external  world,  and 
through  the  inherent  intuitions,  faculties,  and  perceptions, 
placed  in  the  soul  and  mind  of  each  individual.  He  holds 
no  one  accountable  for  a  belief  in  the  written  or  spoken 
words  of  any  man  or  any  set  of  men.  Men  are  to  be 
relied  upon  only  so  far  as  they  describe  the  physical, 
moral,  and  intellectual  laws  of  God,  in  accordance  with 
other  natural  truths. 

In  view  of  this  advancement  of  the  human  race,  and 
of  the  numerous  discoveries  of  modern  science,  each  one 
of  which  is  consistent  with  the  other  and  with  the  bene- 
ficent nature  and  unchanging  and  unchangeable  laws  and 
purposes  of  the  Creator  —  in  view  of  the  hollowness  of 
the  religious  systems,  through  which  endeavours  have 
been  made  for  many  ages  back  to  impose  upon  mankind 
a  belief  in  stories  and  traditions  that  it  is  impossible  to 
accept  —  in  view  of  the  attempted  disparagement  of  the 
religion  of  nature  and  conscience,  which  these  efforts  have 
produced,  as  well  as  the  vast  amount  of  hypocrisy  which 
they  have  caused  amongst  the  multitude  of  ordinary  men, 
who  pretend  to  believe  for  fashion's  sake,  or  to  save 
themselves  the  trouble  and  inconvenience  of  standing  out 
against  any  established  system  —  in  view  of  all  this,  the 
time  seems  to  have  arrived  for  protesting  against  all  false 
cosmogonies,  theologies,  and  mythologies,  through  which 
the  designing  have  held  more  or  less  pernicious  sway 
over  the  mind  and  means  of  the  many  for  so  long  a 
period.  As  long  as  these  attempts  are  permitted  to 
trammel  the  minds  and  influence  the  conduct  of  men  and 
debase  true  religion,  they  act  as  fetters  upon  the  intellect 
and  impede  the  progress  of  mankind.  A  protest,  to  be 
in  accordance  with  the  intelligence  of  the  day,  must  be 


32  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

one  against  the  idea  that  death  is  a  new-comer,  or  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  from  man  downward  to  the 
lowest  animalcule,  were  not  intended  for  death  from  the 
beginning.  It  must  protest  against  the  idea  that  death 
is  an  evil,  or  anything  but  a  blessing,  and  a  step  of  the 
soul  in  its  infinite  progression  from  good  to  better.  It 
must  protest  against  the  idea  that  there  is  any  evil, 
except  that  which  is  caused  by  man's  ignorant  or  wilful 
breach  of  Divine  laws,  inasmuch  as  all  else  which  seems 
to  be  evil  appears  so  only  on  account  of  our  imperfect 
knowledge,  and  must  be  good  in  the  ulterior  purposes  of 
a  God  who  is  all  perfection.  It  must  protest  against  the 
idea  that  labour  is  a  curse  imposed  upon  man  in  conse- 
quence of  transgression,  and  assert,  on  the  contrary,  that 
it  is  a  prime  and  chief  blessing,  the  educator  of  the  body, 
the  elevator  of  the  mind,  the  sweetener  and  enhancer 
of  the  multifarious  enjoyments  of  life.  It  must  protest 
against  the  idea  inculcated  in  the  Old  Testament  of  the 
Jews,  and  thence  conveyed  into  the  New  Testament  of 
the  Christians,  that  God's  purpose  was  ever  changed  by 
man's  transgression,  or  by  man's  intercession,  or  by  any 
other  agency  whatsoever.  It  must  protest  as  Christ  pro- 
tested, and  reject  the  barbarous  and  bloodthirsty  creed  of 
the  Jews,  and  especially  those  portions  of  that  creed  which 
have  corrupted  that  which  Jesus  taught,  and  which  were 
introduced  into  it  after  his  crucifixion  by  his  ignorant 
disciples,  and  form  no  portion  of  the  divine  doctrine  that 
God  is  infinite  in  goodness  and  wisdom,  and  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  men  to  love  God  and  one  another.  It  must  pro- 
test against  the  idea  that  it  is  any  part  of  God's  purpose 
—  out  of  revenge,  or  from  any  other  motive  —  to  punish 
man  in  everlasting  fire,  or  by  any  other  torment  beyond 
the  grave,  for  the  deeds  done  in  the  body,  such  a  doctrine 
being  totally  inconsistent  with  God's  goodness.  It  must 
protest  against  the  idea  that  God,  out  of  His  mere  grace 
or  favour,  has  elected  a  remnant  of  mankind  to  be  saved, 


A  Protest  against  Theologies  33 

to  the  exclusion  of  the  majority,  as  being  inconsistent 
with  His  even-handed  justice.  It  must  protest  against 
the  idea  that  man  can  commit  any  sin  for  which  God  has 
not  provided  adequate  punishment,  that  is  inflicted  on 
the  offender,  not  vicariously  or  vindictively,  but  to  the  end 
that  God  had  in  view,  at  the  creation — and  this  end  was 
that,  under  the  training  provided  for  the  purpose,  all  men 
should,  eventually,  be  brought  to  understand  and  do  His 
will.  It  must  protest  that  God  is  never  moved  to  anger, 
nor  can  He  be  surprised  or  disappointed  by  anything  that 
man  may  do,  for  He  observes  with  perfect  complacency 
all  His  works,  all  His  creatures,  and  all  their  doings, 
knowing  that  by  the  gradual  fulfilment  of  His  original 
purposes  all  things  will  work  together  in  a  manner  en- 
tirely consistent  therewith.  It  must  protest  against  the 
idea  that  any  man's  fate  is  altered  by  the  prayers  of 
the  Church,  either  before  or  after  his  decease — this  being 
inconsistent  with  God's  foreknowledge,  and  His  ability 
to  provide  for  all  possible  contingencies  from  the  first. 
It  must  protest  against  all  teaching  which  is  contrary  to 
this  view.  It  must  protest  against  receiving  the  facts 
recorded  by  either  Moses  or  the  Apostles,  as  other  than 
mere  statements  resting  upon  human  testimony,  to  be 
judged  of  as  evidence  is  judged  of  in  a  court  of  justice, 
and  to  be  credited  only  when  consistent  with  each  other, 
with  nature,  with  probability,  and  with  the  goodness  of 
God.  In  fine,  it  must  protest  against  everything  which 
is  not  in  accordance  with  the  substance  of  these  following 
propositions,  derived  from  natural  teaching,  and  confirmed 
by  an  innate  consciousness  of  their  truth :  That  it  is  no 
part  of  religion  to  entertain  any  other  faith  or  belief, 
than  that  there  is  but  one  God  ;  that  this  one  God  is 
omnipotent,  and  that  His  perfections  are  infinite  ;  that 
He  rules  all  things  by  laws,  which,  like  Himself,  are  un- 
changeable ;  that  all  men  are  alike  amenable  to  His  laws 
in  person  ;  and  that  He  requires  that  we  should  exercise 


34  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

ourselves  in  good  offices  one  toward  another,  and  toward 
all  sentient  beings.  All  faiths  and  beliefs  which  are  in- 
consistent with  these  broad  axioms  are  more  or  less  per- 
nicious. And  most  undoubtedly  all  faiths  and  beliefs 
respecting  God,  which  are  propounded  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  men,  and  which  are  not  consistent  with  His 
infinite  power,  knowledge,  goodness,  and  impartial  justice, 
are  untrue  and  to  be  deprecated. 

God's  perfections  are  the  touchstone  by  which  to  test 
the  genuineness  of  our  faith.  In  working  out  His  plans 
and  designs,  He  needs  not,  nor  did  He  contemplate,  the 
assistance  of  any  such  persons  as  Christ  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  who  are  called  Divine ;  or  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  who 
is  said  to  be  immaculate  and  the  mother  of  God.  There 
is  no  personal  nor  imaginary  Devil ;  nor  is  it  possible 
that  there  can  be  any.  Man  is  as  God  originally  created 
him,  and  as  God  originally  intended  and  provided  he 
should  be,  to  the  end  that  all  shall  in  good  time  adore 
Him  from  a  sense  of  His  goodness  to  each  and  all.  God's 
perfections  are  proof  positive  that  the  laws  which  He 
established  for  the  government  of  all  things  are  absolute 
and  incapable  of  amendment,  and  therefore  must  endure 
perpetually.  They  can  neither  be  changed  nor  made 
better.  Hence,  neither  Jesus  nor  his  disciples,  nor  any 
other  creature  ever  had,  by  any  special  providence,  the 
power  either  inherent  or  granted  for  the  working  of  mira- 
cles. Any  pretended  occurrence  or  phenomenon,  not  in 
accordance  with  the  ordinary  course  of  nature,  is  falla- 
cious. There  is  much  in  the  Bible,  in  relation  to  God 
and  His  attributes,  which  is  inconsistent  with  His  per- 
fections, and  therefore  must  be  untrue ;  hence  the  Bible 
cannot  be  said  to  be  infallible. 

In  speaking  of  the  Church,  we  use  the  word,  in  every 
instance,  in  its  broad  sense,  not  as  applying  to  any  par- 
ticular denomination  or  sect,  but  to  all  alike  who  make 
any  part  of  their  doctrine  or  creed  to  consist  of  •any  one 


Affirmation  Necessary  35 

or  more  of  the  things  here  cited  as  being  inconsistent 
with  God's  perfect  attributes.  Any  one  of  the  many 
sects  may  denounce  the  doctrines  of  the  others,  with 
whom  they  do  not  agree.  We  claim  the  same  privilege, 
and  shall  address  ourselves  against  any  and  all  who  hold 
to  dogmas  and  theologies  which  we  conceive  to  be  not  in 
accordance  with  the  nature,  and  perfections,  and  omni- 
potence of  God.  *r 
The  new  protest  must  avoid  the  shortcomings  and 
errors  of  its  predecessors.  It  is  not  enough,  in  our  day, 
to  protest  against  that  which  is  false  in  theology;  it  is 
essentially  necessary  to  affirm  that  which  is  true.  In 
addition  to  what  is  done  spontaneously  by  the  heart  and 
conscience,  it  has  hitherto  been  the  office  of  poets,  rather 
than  of  preachers,  to  "  vindicate  the  ways  of  God  to 
man  "  ;  but  science  has  now  stepped  into  the  arena,  and 
has  become  a  more  powerful  vindicator  of  God's  good- 
ness and  wisdom  than  either  priest  or  poet.  Science  and 
theology  may  be  antagonistic  powers  ;  but  science  and  the 
religion  of  the  heart  march  together,  side  by  side,  and 
together  they  will  achieve  a  signal  victory  over  the  errors 
and  false  teachings  that  have  trammelled  the  minds  of 
men  from  the  earliest  ages.  The  intelligent  and  un- 
shackled inquirer  studies  the  so-called  sacred  books  of 
the  Jews  and  Christians,  and  finds  what  of  Divine  truth 
there  is  in  them  so  overridden  and  contradicted  by,  and 
so  subordinated  to,  human,  dogmas  —  repugnant  alike  to 
intuitive  religion,  conscience,  and  common  sense — that  no 
consolation  or  healing  for  the  soul,  or  satisfaction  for  the 
intellect,  can  be  extracted  therefrom.  He  who  hungers 
and  thirsts  for  the  true  bread  and  water  of  life  which 
leads  man  heavenward,  will  hunger  and  thirst  in  vain,  if 
he  expects  to  find  it  in  the  Bible  or  in  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church.  But  when  the  truly  religious  man  studies  the 
great  open  volume  of  Nature,  he  discovers  nothing  to 
weaken  or  contradict ;  everything  in  it  tends  to  strengthen 


36  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

and  confirm  the  great  and  fundamental  idea  —  the  only 
possible  basis  of  a  true  and  living  religion  —  that  God  is 
infinite,  eternal,  unchangeable,  and  all-wise.  Nothing 
can  eradicate  the  impression  which  it  makes  upon  us,  to 
the  effect  that  He  is  good  and  kind  to  all  His  creatures, 
and  that  He  cannot  have  created  man  in  order  to  make 
him  miserable  either  here  or  hereafter.  The  diligent 
student  of  this  sublime  book — whether  he  gathers  instruc- 
tion from  the  little  globe  of  which  man  is  the  noblest 
inhabitant,  or  whether  he  seeks  it  with  a  devout  and 
reverential  spirit  from  the  gorgeous  host  of  suns  and 
planetary  systems  that  fill  the  remotest  regions  of  space, 
and  by  their  number  and  magnitude  reduce  this  globe  of 
ours  comparatively  to  the  dimensions  of  a  grain  of  sand 
on  the  seashore  of  creation  —  will  observe  in  it,  through- 
out, the  universality  of  law  and  the  most  perfect  mathe- 
matical consistency.  Every  newly  discovered  truth  will 
be  found  to  be  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  whole.  He 
will  recognise,  as  a  principle  and  as  a  fact,  that  the  laws 
of  God,  which  are  perfect  and  invariable  now,  must  have 
been  perfect  and  invariable  from  the  first,  and  that  in 
this  world  —  as  in  the  countless  worlds  of  all  the  galaxies 
of  space — they  accomplish  everlastingly  the  exact  original 
purpose  of  their  Divine  Author.  He  will  also  recognise 
that  God's  intention  in  creating  the  universe,  and  placing 
man  upon  the  earth — and,  for  all  we  know,  in  millions  of 
other  worlds  even  more  glorious  than  this  —  cannot  have 
been  thwarted  by  any  agency,  mortal  or  immortal.  It 
has  been  carried  out  from  the  beginning;  and  it  will  be 
carried  out  in  exact  conformity  with  His  will  and  fore- 
knowledge throughout  all  eternity.  Every  atom  of  mat- 
ter, and  the  faintest  flickering  of  mind  that  ever  existed, 
was  made  subservient  to  the  accomplishment  of  a  definite 
purpose,  and  was  endowed,  from  the  creation,  with  all 
the  properties,  qualities,  forces,  and  faculties  necessary  to 
fulfil  that  purpose,  without  any  further  supervision. 


God's  Revelation  to  Man  37 

Among  the  agencies  which  perform  important  offices  in 
the  production  of  the  various  phenomena  of  Nature  are 
light  and  darkness,  heat  and  cold,  negative  and  positive 
electricity,  magnetism,  the  centripetal  and  centrifugal 
forces,  chemical  affinities  and  repulsions,  gravitation,  at- 
traction, and  probably  other  instrumentalities  of  which  sci- 
ence has  not  yet  discovered  the  secret.  These  agencies 
are  perceptible  to  man  only  through  their  action  on4 
visible  and  tangible  matter.  It  required  the  accumulated 
experience  of  centuries,  and  a  high  state  of  mental  cult- 
ure in  succeeding  generations,  before  Philosophy  could 
either  discover  or  comprehend  them  even  to  the  present 
limited  extent. 

Man  has  never  had  any  true  conception  of  God  or  His 
attributes,  except  through  the  medium  of  His  creation. 
By  means  of  the  phenomena  presented  to  man  through 
the  material  world,  through  the  action  of  infinite  mind 
upon  inorganic  matter,  through  life  as  exhibited  in  ani- 
mals and  plants,  and  through  the  emotions  and  aspira- 
tions of  the  human  soul,  God  has  revealed  Himself  to 
man — and  thus  only.  By  these  means,  the  revelation  is 
abundantly  sufficient  to  enable  all  men  to  fulfil  God's 
will  and  purpose.  By  these  means,  to  the  full  extent 
of  their  intelligence  and  their  needs,  will  they  be  enabled 
to  perform  the  duties  that  are  required  of  them  so  long  as 
they  remain  in  this  world ;  and,  by  analogy,  it  may  be 
concluded  that,  after  they  have,  quitted  it,  they  will  be 
similarly  aided,  through  some  means  not  revealed  to  us. 
With  this  great  and  glorious  revelation  open  before  him — 
the  Divine  instruction  written  on  the  soul  of  man  —  how 
can  he  fail  to  keep  within  the  bounds  of  duty  and  love  to 
God? 

Three  words,  which  theologians  employ  in  a  sense  at 
variance  with  truth  and  with  God's  wisdom  in  creating 
the  world,  and  by  which  the  minds  of  men  have  been 
enthralled  to  their  damage,  are  "  Labour,"  "  Pain,"  and 


38  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

"  Death."  They  have  been  represented  as  evils,  and  as 
forming  no  part  of  God's  original  purpose  in  placing  man 
upon  the  earth.  A  great  portion  of  the  human  race  has 
been  taught  for  thousands  of  years,  that  for  man's  disobedi- 
ence to  a  supposed  command  —  which  God  never  can  have 
given,  with  the  threatened  penalties  for  a  breach  of  it, 
and  under  all  the  circumstances  claimed  by  the  Church — 
labour  was  imposed  upon  him  as  a  curse  ;  that  pain  was 
introduced  as  a  punishment  instigated  by  God's  anger  ; 
and  that  death  —  no  part  of  God's  first  intention — was 
made  the  doom  of  every  living  thing.  And  this  ancient 
fable  still  exercises  a  pernicious  influence,  although  men 
are  gradually  beginning  to  understand,  as  regards  labour 
and  pain,  that  they  are  by  no  means  evils,  but  a  part  of 
the  economy  of  God's  will  toward  man  in  this  world. 
Instead  of  being  a  curse,  labour,  to  a  legitimate  extent,  is 
found  to  be  a  blessing ;  and  this  law  refers  not  alone 
to  man  and  the  earth,  but  to  the  whole  universe.  We 
admit  that  excess  of  labour  is  an  evil ;  but  so,  also,  is 
excess  in  anything.  It  is  beneficial  to  eat  and  to  drink ; 
but  prejudicial  to  eat  and  drink  too  much.  It  is  delight- 
ful to  labour ;  but  disagreeable  to  exhaust  one's  self  in 
doing  in  one  day  the  work  of  two  or  three  days.  It  is 
labour,  labour  alone,  that  raises  man  to  his  true  position. 
It  is  imposed  upon  him  for  no  angry  or  revengeful  pur- 
pose,— if  such  were  possible  to  God, — but  with  the  kindest 
intention.  It  was  instituted  to  promote  his  happiness,  in 
order  that  he  might  be  induced  to  improve  his  faculties, 
physical,  moral,  and  intellectual.  He  is  born  naked  ;  out 
of  his  necessities  come  mental  and  physical  cultivation, 
civilisation,  and  all  the  ennobling  arts  and  graces  that 
follow  in  its  train.  In  the  gratification  of  man's  wants 
consists  the  enjoyment  of  life  ;  for  if  he  had  no  wants  in 
this  life  he  would  have  no  pleasures.  Were  he  to  draw 
his  food  out  of  the  atmosphere  by  the  act  of  breathing, 
had  he  no  call  to  cultivate  the  earth  or  to  labour  for  shelter 


Labour — Pain  39 

or  covering,  he  would  be  without  that  stimulant  and  that 
incentive  to  do  and  be  doing — without  that  prompting  to 
activity  of  body  and  spirit — which  is  indispensable  to 
buoyancy,  and  health,  and  the  giving  zest  to  life.  Action 
is  the  order  of  nature.  The  air  sweeps  over  hill  and  dale. 
It  dallies  wantonly  with  the  foliage,  and  on  the  surface  of 
the  waters.  It  rustles  in  the  trees,  plays  with  the  grass 
and  the  flowers  of  the  fields,  and  fans  the  waving  grain 
that  sways  gracefully  before  its  breath.  The  clouds  move 
majestically  about  from  one  part  of  the  heavens  to  another. 
The  sea  uplifts  its  waves  for  joy,  and  embraces  again  and 
again  the  rock-bound  shore,  leaving  its  impress  and  its 
bounds  in  circles  on  the  sands,  as  it  daily  ebbs  and  flows. 
The  animals  participate  in  this  general  law  of  existence. 
They  are  ever  busy,  providing  for  and  protecting  them- 
selves in  every  emergency.  And  thus  we  see  that  all 
nature  is  alive  with  activity. 

Stop  the  wheels  of  Nature, 
And  Nature  will  cease  to  be. 

Let  stagnation  lay  her  hand  upon  the  earth,  and  this 
fair  and  lovely  Paradise,  now  instinct  with  movement 
and  health,  will  become  the  dreary  seat  of  sterility  and 
death. 

In  like  manner,  pain,  thought  to  be  a  curse  secondary 
only  to  death,  is  not  only  useful,  but  necessary  and  bene- 
ficent. It  is  a  special  warning  to  us  that  something  has 
gone  wrong,  and  may  go  further  wrong,  in  this  our  curious 
and  mysterious  physical  constitution,  if  we  do  not  see  to 
it  to  set  the  wrong  right. 

Pain  is  the  friend  and  guardian  of  the  wise. 

Wouldst  place  thy  hand 
In  the  consuming  and  destroying  fire, 
And  ask  it  not  to  burn  ?    Wouldst  fall  from  heights 
Upon  the  strong  bosom  of  the  earth, 


40  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

And  ask  it  not  to  bruise  ?    Wouldst  break  the  laws 
That  govern  and  uphold  the  universe, 
The  modulation  of  harmonious  Heaven, 
And,  without  knowledge  of  thy  sacrifice, 
Destroy  thy  being  ?     Wise,  and  good,  and  just 
Are  all  the  laws  and  purposes  of  God. 

Death  is  naturally  the  dread  of  all,  to  the  end  that  all 
may  cling  to  life  while  they  may ;  yet  death  is  no  more 
an  evil  than  pain  or  labour.  The  world  was  constituted 
and  prepared  for  death  from  the  beginning.  Millions  of 
years  ago,  as  geology  has  discovered,  there  were  life  and 
death  on  this  globe ;  life  and  death  in  the  waters,  and  on 
the  dry  land.  A  square  inch  of  the  chalky  cliffs  of  Dover 
or  the  Isle  of  Wight  contains  the  shells  of  myriads  of 
minute  sea-fish,  that  must  have  lived  and  died  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  centuries  ago — even  before  the  world  was 
ready  for  the  habitation  of  man,  and  consequently  before 
man's  transgression  could  have  involved  this  supposed 
penalty. 

Death  is  no  evil.     Cease,  O  foolish  man, 
Thy  querulous  moaning,  and  consider  death 
No  longer  as  thy  foe.     A  ministering  saint, 
Her  hand  shall  lead  thee  step  by  step  to  God. 
Be  worthy  of  her;  and  so  learn  to  live, 
That  every  incarnation  of  thy  soul 
In  other  worlds,  and  spheres,  and  firmaments, 
Shall  be  more  perfect.     God's  eternity 
Is  thine  to  live. 

This  we  hold  to  be  man's  destiny  hereafter;  and  it 
is  his  high  privilege  to  participate  in  working  out  the 
supreme  happiness  in  store  for  him.  Discarding,  there- 
fore, all  these  obsolete  and  unworthy  ideas  of  labour,  pain, 
and  death, — products  of  the  early  want  of  knowledge  by 
man,  and  the  erroneous  teaching  of  theologians, — and 


Man's  Wonderful  Organisation         41 

investigating  fairly  and  candidly  the  capabilities  of  man, 
and  the  purposes  of  God  in  creating  him,  it  will  be  found 
by  the  study  of  natural  laws  that  man  is  especially 
charged,  within  certain  limits,  with  the  guardianship  of 
himself.  God  intended  that  man  should  participate  in 
taking  care  of  both  his  soul  and  his  body  ;  that  he  should 
look  to  the  preservation  and  perpetuation  of  his  kind ; 
and  both  morally  and  physically  so  perform  the  duties 
imposed  upon  him  as  to  conduce  to  his  own  well-being 
and  the  well-being  of  his  fellow-men,  both  in  time  and  in 
eternity.  The  numerous  instincts,  appetites,  senses,  and 
other  faculties  with  which  he  is  endowed,  God  has  given 
him  as  guides  for  this  purpose.  Without  these  guides, 
he  might  fail  in  the  great  duty  of  self-preservation,  and 
the  procreation  of  his  kind,  so  as  to  endanger  the  continu- 
ance of  his  race.  Without  the  cravings  of  appetite  and 
the  pleasure  which  its  gratification  affords,  he  might  fail 
to  supply  himself  with  the  food  and  drink  requisite  to 
preserve  life.  But  for  the  suffering,  which  is  the  penalty 
of  neglect,  he  might  not  be  sufficiently  vigilant  in  pro- 
tecting himself  from  injury.  But  for  the  pain  and  dis- 
comfort which  are  the  necessary  and  wholesome  monitors 
of  excess,  he  might  habitually  indulge  in  eating  and 
drinking  too  much.  But  God's  goodness  and  care  do  not 
stop  here.  Besides  these  checks  and  admonitions  given 
to  him  for  his  improvement,  there  are  offices  to  be  per- 
formed on  his  behalf,  over  which  he  has  little  or  no 
control,  and  some  over  which  he  has  no  supervision 
whatever.  There  are  chemical  and  mechanical  processes 
continually  in  operation  within  him,  about  which  he 
knows  very  little,  and  of  which  God  has  altogether  taken 
charge.  These  are  so  completely  provided  for  in  his 
organisation,  that  they  go  on  while  he  is  unmindful  of 
them.  Such  are  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  the  draw- 
ing of  the  breath,  the  generation  of  vital  heat,  the  diges- 
tion of  food,  and  the  distribution  of  the  nourishment  thus 


42  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

obtained  to  all  parts  of  the  body,  to  promote  growth  and 
serve  for  the  repair  of  the  system.  To  subserve  these 
ends,  and  to  give  rest  to  the  body  and  spirit,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  too  rapid  expenditure  of  vital  energy,  and  the 
consequent  premature  decay  of  the  beautiful  and  complex 
human  machine,  it  is  indispensable  that  the  active  brain 
and  intellect  should,  at  certain  periods,  not  too  far  apart, 
be  brought  to  that  state  of  quiet  and  repose  which  sleep 
alone  can  superinduce.  Hence  it  is  put  out  of  man's 
power  to  resist  sleep  to  any  considerable  extent,  without 
injury  or  death.  And  thus  God's  laws  are  constantly 
operating  for  man's  benefit,  though  man  is  unconscious 
or  unmindful  of  the  kindly  despotism  by  which,  for  his 
own  good,  those  laws  are  imposed  upon  him. 

How  beautiful  and  full  of  goodness,  not  only  to  man, 
but  to  all  living  creatures,  are  what  are  called  the 
instincts !  The  new-born  babe  is  taught  by  this  Divine 
prompting,  the  moment  it  comes  into  the  world,  to 
seek  its  nourishment  at  the  mother's  breast.  All  living 
things — the  bees,  the  ants,  the  beavers,  the  birds,  the 
wild  animals  of  whatever  description,  the  flocks  and  herds 
belonging  to  men,  even  the  flowers  and  herbs — are  gov- 
erned and  govern  themselves  by  the  instincts  which  God 
has  given  them,  and  are  preserved  to  life  and  enjoyment 
by  their  obedience  thereto.  This  is  in  accordance  with 
logic  of  the  highest  order ;  and  yet  these  happy  creat- 
ures do  not  reason  on  the  subject,  any  more  than  the 
infant  at  the  breast.  Instinct  is  as  divine  a  gift  as  reason 
itself.  It  is  the  gift  of  God  to  every  living  thing.  It 
is  implanted  in  each  according  to  its  kind  at  creation, 
and  transmitted  without  alteration  to  the  feeble  and  the 
strong  alike.  God's  superior  intelligence,  thus  made 
manifest  and  available  in  all  created  beings,  is  necessary 
to  the  Divine  purpose.  Without  it,  no  living  creature  on 
the  earth  could  exist.  All  those  beings  that  people  the 
air,  the  earth,  or  the  waters — various  as  they  may  be  in 


Instances  of  Instinct  43 

their  forms  and  organisation — have  each  their  own  set 
of  laws,  instincts,  and  intuitions,  which  are  especially 
adapted  to  them,  and  harmonise  in  the  most  minute  par- 
ticular with  their  structure  and  mode  of  life,  the  kind  and 
variety  of  their  food,  the  means  of  supply,  the  perpetua- 
tion and  nourishment  of  their  kind,  their  self-protection, 
and  whatever  is  necessary  to  their  existence  and  enjoy- 
ment. Eagles,  vultures,  hawks,  owls,  and  other  birds 
which  feed  upon  flesh,  have  beaks  and  claws  especially 
adapted  for  capturing  and  killing  their  prey  and  for 
dividing  asunder  their  food  into  convenient  quantities  to 
be  readily  devoured.  They  are  led  by  their  appetites  to 
crave  such  food  as  is  appropriate  to  their  nature;  and 
under  the  influence  of  their  instincts  they  exercise  won- 
drous perseverance  and  adroitness  in  the  pursuit  of  it. 
Birds  that  feed  upon  carrion  have  the  power  of  scenting 
it  from  all  but  incredible  distances.  The  hare,  rabbit, 
and  many  other  animals,  which  from  their  structure  and 
propensities  are  not  well  fitted  for  self-defence,  fly  from 
danger,  and  employ  sometimes  speed,  and  sometimes 
stratagem  for  the  purpose.  The  deprivation  of  one  quality 
is  compensated  for  by  the  gift  of  another  that  is  equally 
available  for  the  intended  object.  There  are  many  species 
of  insects  that  would  become  extinct,  if  instinct  had  not 
taught  them  to  shield  themselves  from  the  frost  of  winter 
by  burrowing  in  the  earth.  The  means  are  present ;  but, 
to  make  burrowing  sufficient  to  the  end  in  view,  it  must 
be  done  at  proper  times,  and  in  anticipation  of  the  frost. 
This  is  ensured  by  inherent  instructions  from  God. 
Wolves  and  various  other  carnivorous  animals  pursue  a 
prey  which  leaves  a  scent  or  trail  upon  the  earth,  with  a 
marvellous  acuteness  of  smell,  while  animals  that  labour 
under  no  similar  need  are  gifted  with  no  such  capacity. 
The  dog  is  enabled  to  scent  his  master  along  the  paved 
streets  of  populous  cities,  and  to  distinguish  his  trail  from 
that  of  others  crossing  or  intermingled  with  it,  even 


44  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

though  hours  may  have  elapsed  between  the  tread  of  his 
master's  foot  and  the  pursuit.  The  instinct  of  self-pre- 
servation sometimes  assumes  the  form  of  cunning.  Some 
animals  feign  death  in  the  presence  of  their  foe.  Many 
insects  do  the  same.  The  skunk,  when  alarmed  for  its 
safety,  emits  a  disagreeable  odour  that  repels  or  disgusts 
its  pursuer.  The  cuttle-fish  when  in  peril  discharges  a 
black  liquid  that  discolours  the  water  for  a  considerable 
distance  around  it,  and  prevents,  by  obscuration,  the  eye 
of  its  enemy  from  tracing  the  course,  upward  or  down- 
ward or  lateral,  by  which  it  effects  its  escape.  The  hare, 
in  the  long  winters  of  far  northern  latitudes,  changes  the 
summer  colour  of  its  coat  to  that  of  the  snow  amid  which 
it  lives,  and  is  thus  enabled  to  elude  the  keen  glance  of 
the  bird  of  prey  high  up  in  the  air,  which  otherwise  would 
be  better  able  to  single  out,  pounce  upon,  and  destroy  it. 
The  feathers  of  the  grouse  that  feed  upon  the  moor  are  of 
the  colour  of  the  moor  and  the  heather ;  while  the  plumage 
of  the  ptarmigan,  that  dwells  among  the  granite  peaks  of 
the  highest  mountains  of  Scotland  and  Norway,  resem- 
bles granite  even  when  seen  from  a  short  distance.  The 
pheasant,  the  better  to  shield  her  young  and  helpless 
brood  from  approaching  danger,  feigns  to  be  crippled,  and 
flutters  away  from  her  chicks — that  hide  themselves — in 
such  a  way  as  to  draw  off  the  intruder  from  her  charge  by 
pretending  to  be,  herself,  an  easy  prey.  The  domestic 
hen  gathers  her  chickens  under  her  wings  when  the  hawk 
or  falcon  soars  above,  a  mere  speck  in  the  sky.  She  does 
this  by  a  peculiar  call,  which  the  young  birds  understand 
and  obey  instinctively.  The  lamb  knows  the  bleat  of  its 
mother  among  all  the  sheep  of  a  flock,  however  numer- 
ous ;  and  the  mother  in  like  manner  distinguishes  the  cry 
of  her  own  progeny,  though  scores  of  lambs  may  be 
bleating  simultaneously.  Thus,  manifestly  do  the  wisdom 
and  goodness  of  God  support  and  train  every  living  creature 
that  He  has  made,  throughout  the  whole  range  of  creation. 


Instinct  in  Vegetation  45 

But  all  these  wonderful  provisions  in  nature,  which  har- 
monise so  beautifully  with  the  peculiar  constitution,  appe- 
tites, means  of  support,  and  protection  of  life  that  we 
observe  in  animals,  are  a  most  emphatic  contradiction  to 
the  Christian  theory,  that,  before  the  Fall,  these  crea- 
tures were  not  antagonistic  to  each  other,  and  that  God 
did  not  contemplate  death  in  His  original  plan  at  the 
creation. 

Neither  the  physical  nor  the  spiritual  eye  of  man  can 
penetrate  any  department  of  Nature  without  discovering 
objects  to  excite  wonder,  admiration,  and  worship.  Even 
the  members  of  the  vegetable  world  have  been  endowed 
with  something  analogous  to  the  instincts  of  the  animal 
creation.  The  roots  of  trees  and  plants  are  attracted 
from  considerable  distances  to  the  spot  where  the  nour- 
ishment that  best  suits  them  is  found  in  greatest  abund- 
ance, and  can  be  made  available  for  their  growth  and 
development.  Trees  that  grow  on  the  plains,  unsheltered 
by  other  trees  or  objects,  have  wider  and  deeper-spread- 
ing roots  and  a  firmer  hold  on  the  earth,  in  order  to  meet 
their  greater  needs,  and  put  out  their  strongest  roots 
in  the  direction  whence  come  the  prevailing  winds  and 
rudest  blasts.  Trees  in  the  dense  forest  vie  with  each 
other,  as  men  do  in  crowded  communities,  each  striving 
to  tower  above  its  neighbour  in  quest  of  that  abundance 
of  sunlight  and  fresh  air,  so  essential  to  its  existence  and 
growth.  The  ivy  and  the  vine,  which  depend  on  their 
sturdier  and  more  earth-fast  neighbours  for  support,  when 
they  rear  their  delicate  foliage  to  the  light,  and  put  forth 
their  tendrils  as  though  they  were  fingers,  seem  to  discern 
and  choose  the  friends  on  which  to  lean,  and  straightway 
incline  their  stems  and  train  their  course  thitherward. 
And  if  God  has  given  instincts  to  the  trees,  the  grass,  and 
the  flowers,  by  which  they  preserve  their  existence  and 
conform  to  the  laws  of  their  well-being,  it  is  difficult  not 
to  believe  that  to  them  also,  in  one  sense,  is  given  a 


46  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

certain  amount  of  enjoyment.  The  sunshine  and  the 
rain  must  give  them  pleasure  ;  and  the  rose,  the  lily,  and 
the  violet  may  know  that  they  are  beautiful,  and  take 
pleasure  in  the  fact,  not  as  sensitively,  perhaps,  as  the 
beautiful  of  our  own  species,  yet  in  a  degree.  It  may 
not  be  altogether  a  fancy  of  the  poet,  but  an  unsuspected 
truth,  that  the  trees,  which  quiver  to  the  summer  wind,  or 
bend  or  moan  in  the  wintry  blast, 

to  men  unknown 

Have  pleasures  of  their  own, 
And  feel  sweet  sympathies  with  all  dear  Nature's  moods. 

We  deem  that  all  the  leaves, 

In  morns,  or  noons,  or  eves, 
Or  in  the  starry  stillness  of  the  night, 

May  point  to  Heaven  in  prayer, 

Or  bend  to  earth  and  share 
Some  joy  of  sense,  some  natural  delight ; 

That  root,  and  branch,  and  stem, 

Partake  the  joy  with  them, 
And  feel,  through  all  their  sap,  God's  goodness  infinite. 

God's  laws  provide  not  only  for  the  incessant  repro- 
duction or  recomposition  of  vegetable  and  animal  life,  so 
as  to  compensate  for  the  decay  which  time  has  been  com- 
missioned to  operate  on  all  that  lives, —  thus  keeping  the 
face  of  nature  forever  fresh  and  beautiful, —  but  He  has 
provided  that  the  earth  itself,  however  venerably  old, 
shall  always  be  young,  always  fruitful,  always  bountiful, 
always  lovely.  The  same  recuperative  power  that  exists 
in  man  and  animals  exists  through  all  nature.  The  wav- 
ing fields  of  corn  and  grass,  when  too  rudely  pressed  by 
the  gale  or  storm,  or  disfigured  by  the  trail  of  man  or 
beast,  are  in  a  brief  space,  under  the  genial  influence  of 
the  sun,  the  breezes,  and  the  inscrutable  laws  of  nature  — 
which  train  plants  heavenward  —  put  to  rights,  if  such  a 


Recuperative  Powers  of  Nature         47 

phrase  may  be  used,  and  restored  to  their  original  beauty. 
The  majestic  oak,  shattered  by  the  lightning,  and  deprived 
of  vitality,  does  not  forever  stand  a  gloomy  object  in  the 
landscape.  The  ivy,  4<  friend  and  adorner  of  decay,"  as 
if  in  sympathy  with  its  fate,  binds  up,  as  it  were,  its 
wounds,  its  nakedness,  its  seared  old  trunk  and  limbs, 
and  renders  it  beautiful  with  its  own  life,  turning  its 
helplessness  to  cheerful  purposes.  Even  at  the  fall  of  the 
leaf,  and  in  the  old  age  of  the  year,  when  the  landscape 
is  disrobed  of  its  verdure,  Nature  does  not  cease  to  be 
lovely.  She  bestows  upon  each  season  its  own  compen- 
sations in  the  present  for  what  it  may  have  lost  in  the 
past.  The  howling  winds,  the  drifting  snow  forming 
into  graceful  undulations,  slopes,  and  curves,  and  mant- 
ling the  landscape  with  their  beauty  ;  the  icy  gems  that 
attach  themselves  to  every  tree,  and  bush,  and  herb,  and 
sparkle  in  the  sunlight  like  precious  stones  —  these  do 
not  impress  the  soul  with  gloom,  but  with  a  never-wearied 
sense  of  the  grandeur,  the  goodness,  and  the  beauty  of 
all  God's  works  and  ways. 

And  while  God  is  thus  careful  for  His  creatures,  He  is 
equally  careful  in  preserving  and  beautifying  the  earth 
for  their  enjoyment.  For  is  not  the  earth  itself  as  much 
the  object  of  His  goodness  and  Divine  government  as  the 
living  things  that  He  has  placed  upon  it  ?  There  are 
laws  pertaining  to  its  affairs,  of  which  if  any  one  became 
inoperative,  the  destruction  of  all  animal  and  vegetable 
life  would  speedily  ensue.  Among  these  may  be  named 
evaporation  and  condensation,  cohesive  attraction,  fric- 
tion, gravitation,  and  the  centrifugal  and  centripetal 
forces.  If  there  were  no  such  laws  as  evaporation  and 
condensation  at  work,  the  watery  vapour  that  floats  in  the 
atmosphere  would  not  be  liquefied,  and  consequently  we 
should  have  no  rain  to  water  the  earth ;  it  would  become 
parched  for  want  of  moisture,  and  the  streams  and  rivers 
would  cease  to  flow.  If  the  effect  of  cohesion  and  friction 


48  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

were  wanting,  the  particles  of  matter  of  which  the  hills 
and  mountains  are  composed  would  descend  into  the 
valleys;  and  under  the  same  law  by  which  the  waters  of 
the  rivers  now  flow  into  the  sea  the  whole  surface  of 
the  globe  would  assume  a  perfectly  spherical  shape,  be 
covered  with  water,  and  become  uninhabitable  for  men, 
beasts,  birds,  or  any  other  creatures  except  fishes  and 
sea  reptiles.  Without  the  law  of  gravitation,  the  whole 
material  of  our  globe  would  fly  asunder,  and  be  scattered 
in  space.  Without  centrifugal  force,  the  earth  would 
gravitate  to  the  sun  and  be  destroyed.  Without  centri- 
petal force,  or  gravity,  the  earth  would  leave  its  orbit, 
wander  from  the  planetary  system,  be  deprived  of  the 
heat  and  light  of  the  sun,  and  be  rendered  unfit  for  either 
animal  or  vegetable  life. 

The  next  great  point  to  be  considered  is  of  even  more 
importance  than  any  that  we  have  yet  touched  upon.  If 
the  study  of  nature  in  all  its  varied  moods  and  manifest- 
ations proves  that  God's  goodness  extends  in  this  world 
to  all  that  He  has  placed  within  it,  and  even  to  the  world 
itself  which  He  governs  and  sustains,  shall  not  the  Divine 
Goodness  be  extended  to  the  soul  of  man  through  all 
eternity  ?  God  may  be  continually  employed  in  creating 
new  worlds  and  new  systems  ;  but  never,  if  the  foregoing 
arguments  be  sound,  can  He  be  employed  in  correcting 
such  mistakes  as  are  implied  in  the  Bible  history  of  the 
fall  of  man,  and  the  Church  doctrine  of  his  consequent 
damnation  if  he  do  not  believe  the  incredible.  The  laws 
which  He  laid  down  at  the  beginning,  for  the  preserva- 
tion and  government  of  the  physical  universe,  must  be 
equally  beneficent,  wise  and  unchangeable,  when  applied 
to  our  spiritual  life,  not  alone  in  time,  but  in  eternity. 
Their  application  to  tangible  matter  may  be  more  appar- 
ent ;  but  the  spirit  feels  internal  evidence  that  God's 
goodness  and  care  are  ever  shielding  the  immortal  as  well 
as  the  mortal  part  of  man.  It  would  be  past  the  compre- 


Church  Method  of  Salvation  49 

hension  of  the  wisest,  if  this  were  not  the  case,  and  incon- 
sistent with  God's  character,  as  exhibited  throughout  the 
universe,  so  far  as  man  has  been  enabled  to  study  it.  It 
would  be  irrational  to  believe  that  God  did  not  take 
care  at  the  creation  to  ordain,  establish,  and  put  in  oper- 
tion — to  be  transmitted  unimpaired  to  all  mankind — 
instincts,  intuitions,  inspirations,  and  whatever  proper- 
ties may  be  essential  to  the  soul's  need  in  time  and  eter- 
nity, equal  at  least  to  His  care  in  provision  made  for  the 
body ! 

None  will  deny  that  the  provision  pertaining  to  man's 
physical  nature  was  as  full  and  effectual  at  first,  as  now. 
Yet  those  who  uphold  the  doctrine  of  the  Fall  of  Man, 
and  that  of  Christ's  Divinity  and  mission,  must  be  held 
to  say  that  God  omitted  at  the  beginning  to  make  pro- 
vision for  conducting  the  soul  of  man  through  time  with 
sufficient  definiteness  to  answer  the  purposes  of  His  crea- 
tion ;  and  that,  upon  afterthought,  suggested  and  necessi- 
tated by  man's  unexpected  perverseness,  He  had  to  make 
further  provision  to  meet  the  emergency. 

This  idea  of  afterthought,  though  not  palpable  at  first 
view,  is  nevertheless  inseparable  from  Church  teaching, 
and  no  sophistry  can  rescue  it  from  the  charge  of  being 
irreligious,  absurd,  and  inconsistent  with  God's  infinite 
perfections.  It  presupposes  that  all  mankind  who  lived 
and  died  before  the  advent  of  Jesus,  and  all  those  who 
have  not  heard  or  shall  not  hear  of  salvation  through  his 
crucifixion,  were  and  are  without  the  benefit  of  that  love 
which,  it  is  claimed,  was  only  vouchsafed  to  man  through 
his  Divinity.  According  to  such  a  doctrine  as  this,  if  a 
man  lives  a  life  of  purity  and  charity  and  benevolence — 
in  fine,  just  such  a  life  as  Jesus  recommended  in  his  early 
teachings — it  will  avail  him  nothing.  He  must  have  faith 
in  a  dogma  which  reason  cannot  understand,  and  which 
contradicts  the  idea  of  both  God's  wisdom  and  goodness. 
To  reconcile  this  belief  w'ith  a  belief  in  God's  goodness, 


50  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

it  is  claimed  that,  for  those  who  have  never  heard  or 
never  will  hear  of  redemption  through  Christ,  God  has  a 
mode  of  salvation  which  the  Church  fails  to  specify,  but 
which  answers  all  practical  purposes.  If  this  be  so,  it  is 
difficult  to  see  in  what,  as  regards  the  soul  of  man,  the 
benefit  of  the  new  mode  consists.  It  is  impossible,  as  we 
have  shewn,  for  man  not  to  have  faith  in  the  existence  of 
a  Supreme  Being,  who  is  infinite  in  wisdom,  infinite  in 
power,  and  infinite  in  goodness.  True  religion,  therefore, 
does  not  consist  in  dogmatic  beliefs  or  superstitious  theo- 
ries. It  consists  in  reverence  and  gratitude  to  the  Divine 
Being,  and  the  proper  discharge,  by  each  one  of  us,  of  his 
duty  to  himself,  his  fellow-man,  and  every  creature  with 
which  he  may  have  relations,  and  whose  condition  may 
be  improved  by  his  good  offices  and  kindness. 

This  leads  us  to  the  consideration  of  what  is  called 
moral  evil.  Of  physical  evil  there  is  in  reality  none. 
That  which  is  so  called — under  the  names  of  Labour, 
Pain,  and  Death — we  have  already  disposed  of.  God,  in 
the  creation  of  man,  did  not  expect  him  to  fulfil  all  his 
duties  without  running  counter  to  many  of  the  irrevoca- 
ble and  unchangeable  laws  to  which  he  is  amenable.  This 
is  conclusively  proved  by  the  peculiar  constitution  of  man, 
which  must  have  been  his  condition  at  the  time  of  his 
creation.  He  is  gifted  with  such  capacities  as  would  have 
been  of  no  practical  use  to  him  unless  to  educate  and 
guard  him  against  violating  laws,  the  effect  of  which  he 
can  better  understand,  and  the  importance  of  conforming 
to  which  he  can  better  realise,  when  once  he  has  broken 
them.  This  relates  to  the  moral  and  spiritual,  as  well  as 
to  the  physical  nature  of  man.  Man's  body  suffers  pain 
when  he  has  violated  the  laws  of  bodily  health ;  his  spirit 
is  degraded  when  he  has  violated  those  which  pertain  to 
the  spirit ;  and,  if  the  violation  be  persisted  in,  the  pun- 
ishment will  be  repeated  accordingly.  These  pains  are 
sent  in  mercy  to  man,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  him 


God's  Method  of  Salvation  51 

back  to  the  path  of  law  and  duty,  guiding  him  therein, 
and  admonishing  him  to  be  more  careful  in  future.  These 
means  of  educating  man,  and  of  making  God's  care,  jus- 
tice, and  goodness  available  to  him  to  the  extent  of  his 
needs, — short-sighted  as  he  is, — were  provided  for  at  his 
creation.  This  view,  we  are  aware,  is  in  all  respects  at 
variance  with  the  idea  that  God  created  man  sufficiently 
perfect  to  keep  all  His  laws  unbroken,  or  that  God  ex- 
pected him  to  do  so. 

The  existence  of  moral  evil  leads  mankind  the  better 
to  understand  and  to  practise  moral  good.  Men,  in  the 
aggregate,  do  vastly  more  good  than  evil ;  and  they 
whose  bad  actions  preponderate  largely,  or  even  moder- 
ately, over  their  good  ones,  are  comparatively  very  few. 
Good  deeds  make  but  little  noise  in  the  world  ;  bad  ones 
a  great  deal.  The  life  of  a  considerable  majority  of  man- 
kind is  largely  made  up  of  the  practice  of  small  virtues. 
Even  so  little  a  thing  as  a  kind  word,  or  a  kind  look,  has 
soothed  the  aching  heart,  and  caused  the  eye  of  the  sor- 
rowing and  disconsolate  to  glisten  with  hope  and  happi- 
ness. These  may  seem  trifles,  when  viewed  separately ; 
but,  when  taken  in  the  mass,  they  form  a  monument  of 
praise,  just  as  mountains  raise  their  heads  to  heaven, 
though  composed  of  individual  atoms  of  earth.  Con- 
spicuous virtues  are  no  more  acceptable  to  God  than 
humble  ones,  and  the  smallest  act  of  obedience  to  law  is 
as  meritorious  as  the  greatest.  The  widow's  mite  is  as 
acceptable  as  the  rich  man's  offering,  and  has  its  equal 
reward.  Thankfulness  and  duty  are  the  only  roads  to 
happiness.  All  God's  blessings  and  good  gifts  were  pre- 
pared, and  the  conditions  on  which  they  were  attainable 
prescribed,  from  the  first.  Man  should  be  thankful  for 
the  abundance  and  excellence  of  these  gifts ;  and  espec- 
ially thankful  that  they  are  not  capriciously  distributed, 
but  are  attainable  upon  the  principle  that  like  cause  pro- 
duces like  effect. 


52  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

And  although  those  which  man  in  his  short-sighted- 
ness may  deem  the  most  precious  blessings  do  not  fall 
profusely  on  every  individual,  yet,  if  we  take  men  collec- 
tively, they  will  be  found  to  be  as  much  in  accordance 
with  their  welfare  as  is  consistent  with  their  future  des- 
tiny. Every  man,  whether  he  be  rich  or  poor, — whatever 
his  joys,  whatever  his  sufferings, — is  as  happy  as  is  well 
for  him  under  existing  circumstances.  What  may  seem 
to  be  a  man's  partial  loss,  in  one  way,  may  be  more 
than  compensated  for  in  another  manner.  The  fact  is 
constantly  exemplified.  The  possessor  of  wealth  and 
indulger  in  luxury  sometimes  injures  his  health,  impairs 
his  faculty  for  sound  sleep,  and  disturbs  the  serenity  of 
his  mind  by  over-indulgence ;  while  a  poor  man,  who 
leads  an  active  life  and  avoids  excess,  is  rewarded  by  the 
priceless  blessing  of  health  of  body  and  mind,  which  all 
the  gold  in  the  world  could  not  purchase.  In  this,  God's 
goodness  and  justice  are  most  conspicuously  apparent. 

We  now  approach  the  apparently  difficult,  but  in  reality 
the  simple,  subject  of  prayer,  as  offered  by  individuals 
and  by  the  churches.  We  have  already  said  that  God's 
good  gifts  are  to  be  obtained  only  on  the  terms  prescribed 
at  the  creation — terms  which  are  never  modified  or  al- 
tered to  suit  the  pleasure  or  supposed  necessity  of  any 
one  individual  or  of  all  mankind  combined.  Even  if  the 
whole  human  family  should,  at  the  same  instant,  pray 
most  devoutly  for  the  slightest  change  in  God's  original 
ordinances  or  purposes  toward  mankind,  none  could  take 
place.  The  rain  cannot  be  made  to  fall  because  man 
prays  for  it.  The  pestilence  cannot  be  removed  by  sup- 
plication to  God,  but  by  conformity  to  those  physical 
laws,  the  breach  of  which  produced  the  pestilence.  This 
view  is  admirably  illustrated  and  argued  out  by  Mr. 
Buckle  in  his  History  of  Civilisation  in  England,  from 
which  we  make  a  long  but  very  interesting  extract. 

"  In  the  year  1853, tne  cholera,  after  having  committed 


Disregard  of  Natural  Laws  53 

serious  ravages  in  many  parts  of  Europe,  visited  Scotland. 
There  it  was  sure  to  find  numerous  victims  among  a 
badly  fed,  badly  housed,  and  not  over-cleanly  people. 
For,  if  there  is  one  thing  better  established  than  another 
respecting  this  disease,  it  is  that  it  invariably  attacks, 
with  the  greatest  effect,  those  classes  who,  from  poverty 
or  from  sloth,  are  imperfectly  nourished,  neglect  their 
persons,  and  live  in  dirty,  ill-drained,  or  ill-ventilated 
dwellings.  In  Scotland,  such  classes  are  very  numerous. 
In  Scotland,  therefore,  the  cholera  must  needs  be  very 
fatal.  .  .  .  Under  these  circumstances,  it  must  have 
been  evident,  not  merely  to  men  of  science,  but  to  all 
men  of  plain,  sound  understanding,  who  would  apply 
their  minds  to  the  matter  without  prejudice,  that  the 
Scotch  had  only  one  way  of  successfully  grappling  with 
their  terrible  enemy.  It  behooved  them  to  feed  their  poor, 
to  cleanse  their  cesspools,  and  to  ventilate  their  houses. 
If  they  had  done  this,  and  done  it  quickly,  thousands  of 
lives  would  have  been  spared.  But  they  neglected  it, 
and  the  country  was  thrown  into  mourning.  Nay,  they 
not  only  neglected  it,  but,  moved  by  the  dire  superstition 
which  sits  like  an  incubus  upon  them,  they  adopted  a 
course  which,  if  it  had  been  carried  into  full  operation, 
would  have  aggravated  the  calamity  to  a  frightful  extent. 
It  is  well  known  that,  whenever  an  epidemic  is  raging, 
physical  exhaustion  and  mental  depression  make  the 
human  frame  more  liable  to  it,  and  are  therefore  espec- 
ially to  be  guarded  against.  But,  though  this  is  a  mat- 
ter of  common  notoriety,  the  Scotch  clergy,  backed,  sad 
to  say,  by  the  general  voice  of  the  Scotch  people,  wished 
the  public  authorities  to  take  a  step  which  was  certain 
to  cause  physical  exhaustion,  and  to  encourage  mental 
depression.  In  the  name  of  religion,  whose  offices  they 
thus  abused  and  perverted  to  the  detriment  of  man 
instead  of  employing  them  for  his  benefit,  they  insisted 
on  the  propriety  of  ordering  a  national  fast,  which  in  so 


54  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

superstitious  a  country  was  sure  to  be  rigidly  kept,  and, 
being  rigidly  kept,  was  equally  sure  to  enfeeble  thousands 
of  delicate  persons,  and  before  twenty-four  hours  were 
passed  prepare  them  to  receive  that  deadly  poison  which 
was  already  lurking  around  them,  and  which  hitherto 
they  had  just  strength  enough  to  resist.  The  public  fast 
was  also  to  be  accompanied  by  a  public  humiliation,  in 
order  that  nothing  might  be  wanting  to  appeal  to  the 
mind  and  fill  it  with  terror.  .  .  . 

"  This  was  the  scheme  projected  by  the  Scotch  clergy  ; 
and  they  were  determined  to  put  it  into  execution.  To 
give  greater  effect  to  it,  they  called  upon  England  to  help 
them,  and,  in  the  autumn  of  1853,  tne  Presbytery  of 
Edinburgh  caused  their  Moderator  to  address  a  letter, 
ostensibly  to  the  English  Minister,  but  in  reality  to  the 
English  nation,  enquiring  whether  the  Queen  contem- 
plated appointing  a  national  fast-day. 

"  The  letter,  which,  through  the  medium  of  the  press, 
was  sure  to  become  well  known  and  to  be  widely  read, 
was  evidently  intended  to  act  on  public  opinion  in  Eng- 
land. It  was,  in  fact,  a  covert  reproach  on  the  English 
Government  for  having  neglected  its  spiritual  duties,  and 
for  not  having  perceived  that  fasting  was  the  most 
effectual  way  of  stopping  an  epidemic.  In  Scotland 
generally  it  received  great  praise,  and  was  regarded  as  a 
dignified  rebuke  addressed  to  the  irreligious  habits  of  the 
English  people,  who,  seeing  the  cholera  at  their  doors, 
merely  occupied  themselves  with  sanitary  measures,  and 
carnal  devices  to  improve  the  public  health,  showing 
thereby  that  they  trusted  too  much  to  the  arm  of  the 
flesh.  In  England,  on  the  other  hand,  this  manifesto  of 
the  Scotch  Church  was  met  with  almost  universal  ridicule, 
and  indeed  found  no  favourers,  except  among  the  most 
ignorant  and  credulous  part  of  the  nation.  The  Minister 
to  whom  it  was  addressed  was  Lord  Palmerston,  a  man 
of  vast  experience,  and  perhaps  better  acquainted  with 


U;;  Ty 

Disregard  of  Natural  Laws  ^x    55 

public  opinion  than  any  politician  of  his  time.  He,  being 
well  aware  that  notions  which  the  Scotch  deemed  re- 
ligious the  English  deemed  fanatical,  .  .  .  directed 
a  letter  to  be  sent  to  the  Presbytery  of  Edinburgh,  which, 
unless  I  am  greatly  mistaken,  will  in  future  ages  be 
quoted  as  an  interesting  document  for  illustrating  the 
history  of  the  progress  of  public  opinion.  A  century 
ago,  any  statesman  who  had  written  such  a  letter  would 
have  been  driven  from  office  by  a  storm  of  general  indig- 
nation. Two  centuries  ago,  the  consequences  to  him 
would  have  been  still  more  disastrous,  and  would  indeed 
have  ruined  him  socially,  as  well  as  politically.  For  in 
it  he  sets  at  defiance  those  superstitious  fancies  respect- 
ing the  origin  of  disease,  which  were  once  universally 
cherished  as  an  essential  part  of  every  religious  creed. 
Traditions,  the  memory  of  which  is  preserved  in  the 
theological  literature  of  all  pagan  countries,  of  all  Catho- 
lic countries,  and  of  all  Protestant  countries,  are  quietly 
put  aside,  as  if  they  were  matters  of  no  moment,  and  as 
if  it  were  not  worth  while  to  discuss  them.  The  Scotch 
clergy,  occupying  the  old  ground  on  which  the  members 
of  their  profession  had  always  been  accustomed  to  stand, 
took  for  granted  that  the  cholera  was  the  result  of  Divine 
anger,  and  was  intended  to  chastise  our  sins.  In  the 
reply  which  they  now  received  from  the  English  Govern- 
ment, a  doctrine  was  enunciated,  which  to  Englishmen 
seems  right  enough,  but  which  to  Scotchmen  sounded 
very  profane.  The  Presbytery  were  informed  that  the 
affairs  of  this  world  are  regulated  by  natural  laws,  on 
the  observance  or  neglect  of  which  the  weal  or  woe 
of  mankind  depends.  One  of  those  laws  connects  dis- 
ease with  the  exhalations  of  bodies ;  and  it  is  by  virtue 
of  this  law  that  contagion  spreads,  either  in  crowded 
cities,  or  in  places  where  vegetable  decomposition  is 
going  on.  Man,  by  exerting  himself,  can  disperse  or 
neutralise  these  noxious  influences.  The  appearance  of 


56  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

the  cholera  proves  that  he  has  not  exerted  himself. 
The  towns  have  not  been  purified  ;  hence  the  root  of  the 
evil.  The  Home  Secretary,  therefore,  advised  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Edinburgh,  that  it  was  better  to  cleanse  than 
to  fast.  He  thought  that,  the  plague  being  upon  them, 
activity  was  preferable  to  humiliation.  It  was  now 
autumn,  and  before  the  hot  weather  would  return  a  con- 
siderable period  must  elapse.  That  period  should  be 
employed  in  destroying  the  causes  of  disease  by  improv- 
ing the  abodes  of  the  poor.  If  this  were  done,  all  would 
go  well.  Otherwise,  pestilence  would  be  sure  to  revisit 
them  '  in  spite '  —  I  quote  the  words  of  the  English 
Minister — 'in  spite  of  all  the  prayers  and  fastings  of  a 
united  but  inactive  nation.' 

"  This  correspondence  between  the  Scotch  clergy  and 
the  English  statesman  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  a  mere 
passing  episode,  of  light  or  temporary  interest.  On  the 
contrary,  it  represents  that  terrible  struggle  between  the- 
ology and  science,  which,  having  begun  in  the  persecu- 
tion of  science  and  in  the  martyrdom  of  scientific  men, 
has,  in  these  later  days,  taken  a  happier  turn,  and  is  now 
manifestly  destroying  that  old  theological  spirit  which  has 
brought  so  much  misery  and  ruin  upon  the  world." 

If  God  is  perfect  in  knowledge,  any  attempt  of  priest- 
craft to  dictate  to  Him,  by  means  of  prayer,  what  He 
should  do,  is  pitiable  ignorance  or  gross  blasphemy.  Jesus 
himself  says,  "  Your  Father  knoweth  what  things  ye 
have  need  of  before  ye  ask  Him."  God's  laws  are  all- 
sufficient  ;  and  man's  only  business  is  to  understand  and 
obey  them.  To  pray  publicly  or  privately  may  soothe 
the  spirit  of  man,  and  raise  him  to  a  state  of  mental 
excitement  and  exaltation  ;  but  it  can  have  no  effect  on 
God's  will.  It  may  be  asked  how  God's  goodness  is  to 
benefit  man,  if  he  is  to  be  subjected  and  amenable  to 
inflexible  laws,  which  no  prayer  can  mitigate  or  turn 
aside.  The  answer  is  easy.  God  organised  and  incor- 


God's  Laws  All-Sufficient  57 

porated  in  man's  system  or  nature,  from  the  first,  such 
qualities,  faculties,  and  functions  as  were  necessary  to  fit 
him  for  being  the  medium  and  dispenser  of  God's  blessings 
to  himself  and  to  his  fellows.  God  placed  within  him  con- 
science,—  "  the  voice  of  God," — the  innate  sense  of  right 
and  wrong.  He  gave  him  also  his  reason  and  reflective 
faculties,  together  with  instincts  and  intuitions,  all  of 
which  point  and  lead  to  a  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the 
soul.  All  these,  and  others  of  a  similar  character,  enable 
him  to  thread  his  way  among  the  unchangeable  and 
eternal  laws  of  God,  with  a  success  which  answers  God's 
purpose  in  relation  to  his  existence  here  and  hereafter, 
and  ought  to  secure  thankfulness  from  him  for  the  glori- 
ous bestowal  of  such  a  boon.  He  has  been  endowed,  too, 
with  such  faculties  as  enable  him,  if  he  will,  to  under- 
stand the  rationale  of  God's  laws  whenever  he  studies 
them,  and  to  recognise  the  harmony  with  which  they  all 
co-operate  to  work  out  a  Divine  purpose.  All  animate 
and  inanimate  beings  and  things,  it  would  seem,  are 
allowed  a  certain  free-will,  and  vacillate  between  two 
restraining  laws  which  keep  them  within  their  proper 
bounds.  The  planets  are  prevented  from  getting  too  near 
the  sun  by  centrifugal  force,  and  from  getting  too  far  from 
him  by  that  other  restraining  force  called  centripetal. 
These  laws  balance  each  other,  and  maintain  and  support 
the  equilibrium  of  the  universe. 

The  intellect  of  man  is  able  to  appreciate  the  utility  of 
this,  and  of  all  God's  laws.  Hence  it  is  clear  that  God 
has  so  constituted  man,  that,  to  a  certain  extent,  he  has 
the  means  of  interpreting  aright  God's  ways  here  upon 
earth.  Thus  he  is  allowed  to  enter  into  fellowship  with 
his  Divine  Maker,  and  enabled  to  argue  from  the  things 
of  time  to  those  of  eternity.  Let  him  do  this,  and  he 
will  find  abundant  reason  for  the  consolatory  belief  that 
not  one  human  creature  will  be  permitted  to  stray  so  far 
from  the  path  of  duty  as  to  bring  upon  himself  utter  and 


58  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

endless  misery.  He  cannot  help  but  have  faith  that  God 
has  made  laws  to  restrain,  and  which  ever  will  restrain 
humanity,  as  the  planets  and  other  heavenly  bodies  are  re- 
strained within  their  prescribed  bounds.  Thus  instructed, 
he  cannot  ignore  the  impressions  which  he  has  received 
from  the  unmistakable  manifestations  of  God's  goodness 
toward  him,  or  give  his  faith  to  a  pretended  revelation  of 
God's  character  that  consigns  him  to  everlasting  torment 
if  he  do  not  accept  a  faith  inconsistent  with  itself.  Why 
should  God  enable  man  to  see  and  feel  His  goodness  in 
this  world  of  time,  if  He  had  no  such  goodness  in  store  for 
him  in  the  world  of  eternity?  In  this  mortal  state  man 
has  been  so  constituted,  and  his  agency  or  control  over 
his  own  acts  has  been  so  limited,  that  notwithstanding 
his  lack  of  sufficient  knowledge  to  enable  him  to  conform 
to  all  the  laws  to  which  he  is  amenable,  he  is  not  per- 
mitted to  depart  so  far  from  the  right  path  as  to  make 
it  impossible  for  him  eventually  to  attain  the  high  state 
of  bliss  designed  for  him.  He  may  bring  upon  himself 
penalties  that  may  injure  or  kill  his  body ;  but  he  cannot 
forfeit  his  soul  to  everlasting  misery.  God  has  loved 
man  too  well  to  put  it  in  his  power  to  do  this ;  and  too 
well  not  to  put  it  in  his  power  to  work  out  for  himself  a 
higher  degree  of  happiness  in  eternity  than  he  can  in  this 
world,  or  than  his  limited  faculties  can  conceive.  All 
this  may  be  fairly  deduced  from  God's  manifestations  of 
goodness  throughout  all  nature,  and  the  faith  He  has  im- 
planted in  man's  reason,  conscience,  and  instinct,  that  his 
existence  shall  be  not  a  curse,  or  even  a  blank,  but  a 
transcendent  blessing. 

God's  knowledge  in  relation  to  man  is  perfect.  Man's 
liability  to  err,  and  the  bounds  which  are  set  thereto,  and 
the  penalties  which  are  attached  to  each  breach  of  the 
law,  are  alike  of  God's  ordaining.  Who,  then,  remember- 
ing these  things,  shall  doubt  that  God  has  so  adjusted  one 
to  the  other,  that  the  punishment  on  the  other  side  of 


God's  Beneficence  59 

the  grave  shall  be,  as  here,  for  man's  further  education, 
and  for  his  best  interests  and  happiness?  By  analogy 
this  should  be  so ;  and  it  is  fair  to  infer  that  it  is  so,  since 
the  same  God  that  has  tempered  and  adjusted  all  things, 
so  as  to  make  life  happy  here,  shall  be  equally  our  God — 
the  God  of  goodness  and  wisdom — throughout  all  eternity. 

The  human  soul  is  so  attuned  to  what  the  ancients 
called  "the  music  of  the  spheres,"  that  all  nature  draws 
it  to  the  contemplation  of  a  higher  existence.  Every 
living  and  every  inanimate  thing,  and  all  the  wondrous 
phenomena  of  the  visible  universe,  seem  to  whisper  to  man 
to  aspire  and  to  be  thankful.  The  moan  of  the  wind, 
the  blustering  of  the  storm,  the  falling  of  the  rain,  the 
flash  of  the  lightning,  the  rolling  of  the  thunder,  the  lowing 
of  the  herd,  the  hum  of  the  bee,  the  song  of  the  bird,  the 
fragrant  loveliness  of  the  flowers,  the  roar  of  the  sea  upon 
the  shore,  the  gloomy  grandeur  of  the  ocean,  the  gurgling 
of  the  stream,  the  sigh  of  the  forest  leaves  and  branches, 
the  sublimity  of  the  snow-covered  mountain-tops,  the  se- 
rene beauty  of  the  morning  and  the  evening,  the  maj- 
esty of  night,  the  harmony  of  truth,  the  transcendent 
bliss  when  two  souls  are  fused  into  one — when  one  heart 
beats  in  two  bosoms,  when  the  same  soul  is  eloquent  in 
mutual  eyes  —  love  to  children,  love  to  parents,  the  kind 
emotions  and  sympathies  of  the  human  family  one  to  an- 
other, and  to  other  living  things, — these  multifarious  joys 
all  preach  the  immutable  truth  that  God's  beneficence 
pervades  the  universe,  and  that  all  tends  to  develop  man's 
innate  belief  in  His  goodness,  and  prompts  to  praise  and 
worship  Him.  Praise  is  joy ;  and  the  best  worship  is  the 
obedience  which,  in  its  turn,  produces  the  happiness  of 
the  worshipper.  This  is  man's  experience  in  time ;  and, 
if  it  be  not  destined  to  be  his  experience  throughout  eter- 
nity, God's  goodness  would  be  finite,  which  it  is  impossible 
to  believe. 

It  has  been  urged  by  the  preachers  of  Christianity  and 


60  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

of  nearly  all  known  systems  of  theology  that,  however 
good  God  may  be,  He  permits  the  existence  of  evil ;  and 
that  man  may  prevail  upon  God,  by  sacrifice  and  prayer, 
to  remove  and  lighten  its  load.  Most  modern  sects  have 
discarded  the  idea  of  sacrifices  for  this  purpose  ;  but  all 
insist,  not  only  upon  the  efficacy,  but  upon  the  absolute 
necessity  of  prayer.  These  phases  of  belief  originate  in 
erroneous  ideas  of  God's  goodness. 

Physical  evil  is  but  another  name  for  pain  ;  and  pain, 
as  has  already  been  shewn,  is  in  its  purpose  entirely 
benevolent — a  warning  that  we  have  transgressed  some 
law  imposed  upon  us  for  our  good.  Moral  evil  is,  in  like 
manner,  but  another  name  for  disobedience.  If  it  were 
impossible  for  man  to  disobey  any  physical  or  moral  law 
of  God,  he  would  be  deprived,  not  alone  of  free-will,  but 
of  the  capacity  for  improvement  and  mental  growth. 
He  would  be  unable  even  to  aspire  to  a  better  state  of 
existence,  or  to  qualify  himself  to  enter  it.  There  would 
be  no  propriety  in  his  being  placed  in  this  world  in  a 
state  of  probation.  There  can  be  no  probation,  where  it 
is  impossible  to  go  wrong.  It  is  sometimes  asked,  how 
the  injustice  so  often  committed  by  man  on  man  is  to  be 
reconciled  with  the  shield  which  God  has  thrown  around 
him,  and  all  the  inferior  animals,  for  self-protection  ?  The 
reply  is,  that  so  far  as  the  corporeal  part  of  man  is  con- 
cerned, and  so  far  as  intellectual  agencies  operate  in  this 
life,  the  protection  is  not  perfect,  else  man's  free  agency 
would  have  no  office.  The  protection  provided  is  efficient 
only  up  to  the  boundary  that  circumscribes  man's  free 
will.  Within  that  boundary  man  can  work  out  for  him- 
self a  higher  or  lower  degree  of  happiness,  according  as 
he  understands  and  conforms  to  God's  laws ;  and  it  may 
be  that  the  trials  and  vexations  of  this  life  will  serve,  by 
contrast,  to  increase  the  joys  and  happiness  of  the  next. 
In  fact,  we  can  scarcely  conceive  what  enjoyment  would 
be,  if  we  had  no  idea  of  the  reverse.  As  regards  the 


Man  an  Agent  in  God's  Purposes       61 

liability  of  man  to  encroach  upon  the  rights  of  others,  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  God  has  given  him  various 
qualities,  propensities,  and  incentives  to  action,  in  order 
that  he  may  be  used  as  an  instrument,  within  certain  limits, 
for  carrying  out  God's  purposes.  These  are,  in  the  first 
place,  that  all  men  shall  contribute  to  the  happiness  and 
welfare  of  each  other  by  kind  offices  and  social  inter- 
course ;  and,  secondly,  that  every  individual  shall  secure  a 
greater  or  less  degree  of  happiness  in  this  life  and  the  life 
to  come,  according  as  he  deserves  more  or  less  by  his 
obedience.  Now,  while  each  individual  may,  in  the 
exercise  of  his  free-will,  perform  his  part  more  or  less 
perfectly,  yet  so  strong  in  the  right  direction  are  the  pro- 
pensities established  within  him  as  motives  to  his  con- 
duct, that  man,  by  the  exercise  of  his  free-will  within  its 
prescribed  limits,  accomplishes  God's  purpose  while  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  own  happiness.  This  accounts  for  some  of 
man's  propensities  being  vastly  stronger  than  others. 
Among  the  things  which  man  has  an  agency  in  perform- 
ing, and  which  God  will  not  permit  to  fail,  are,  the  per- 
petuation of  the  race  of  men,  and  the  preparation  of  the 
soul  of  each  man  for  the  enjoyment  of  at  least  some  de- 
gree of  happiness  in  time,  and  a  high  degree  of  happiness 
in  eternity.  Hence  God  has  given  man  unusually  strong 
propensities  in  relation  to  these  two  great  duties  of  life. 
These  press  with  resistless  force  to  the  accomplishment 
of  their  objects  ;  and  it  sometimes  happens,  in  impetuous 
natures,  that  they  overstep  their  proper  boundaries  in 
these  respects  and  run  riot.  But  it  is  better  for  a  man  to 
be  over-selfish,  than  to  fail  in  the  indulgence  of  these  pro- 
pensities to  the  extent  of  neglect  in  taking  due  care  of 
his  life  and  happiness,  Thus  the  minor  evil  is  consequent 
upon  the  ample  means  taken  to  ensure  the  greater  good. 
Man,  in  his  early  ignorance  that  pain  was  not  of  itself 
an  evil,  but  a  necessary  part  of  the  Divine  government  of 
the  universe,  was  induced  to  pray  to  the  Supreme  Being 


62  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

for  its  removal.  The  custom  still  prevails ;  and  it  there- 
fore becomes  proper  to  inquire  how  it  is  that  men  should 
continue  to  ask  God  to  perform  miracles  or  acts  of  special 
providence  in  their  favour,  and  sometimes  on  very  frivol- 
ous pretexts.  Did  any  man  ever  have  proof  positive  that 
any  prayer  was  answered?  Events  sometimes  happen 
seemingly  at  the  instance  of  prayer ;  but  it  is  impossible 
to  be  assured,  beyond  the  possibility  of  mistake,  that  the 
event  in  question  would  not  have  taken  place,  entirely 
independent  of  any  prayer. 

In  the  infancy  of  the  race,  when  mental  and  material 
progress  was  naturally  slow,  the  first  idea  of  God,  the 
Divine  Father,  was  based  upon  that  of  the  human  father, 
who  tenderly  supplied  the  wants  of  the  child — even  before 
the  wants  were  made  known,  and  who  always  listened 
with  attention  to  the  supplications  of  His  offspring  when 
those  supplications  were  for  such  blessings,  benefits,  or 
necessities  as  ought  to  be  supplied.  In  the  manhood  of 
the  individual  these  supplications  cease  ;  and  each  person 
arriving  at  maturity  learns,  as  his  father  did  before  him, 
to  depend  upon  his  own  exertions,  in  conformity  with  the 
laws  of  nature,  and  to  provide  himself  and  those  depend- 
ent upon  him  with  food,  raiment,  and  shelter.  In  the 
manhood  of  the  race  the  same  results  ensue — though 
they  are  not  acknowledged  —  and  man  practically  per- 
ceives, though  he  may  not  admit  the  fact  theoretically, 
that  prayer  to  God  for  the  supply  of  our  wants  is  wholly 
unnecessary,  inasmuch  as  God  has  provided  beforehand 
for  all  things  which  pertain  to  man's  happiness  and  en- 
joyment, with  a  profusion  and  variety  greater  than  most 
of  us  can  conceive.  Man  having  outgrown  his  moral 
childhood  should,  therefore,  be  manly  and  mature  enough 
in  his  intellect  to  understand  and  act  upon  the  know- 
ledge that  God's  favours  and  gifts  can  be  had  only  by 
conforming  to  the  conditions  prescribed  for  all  that  live. 

It  is  not  insisted  that  prayer  to  God  to  raise  us  miracu- 


Prayer  for  Recovery  63 

lously  from  a  bed  of  sickness,  or  to  give  us  clearer  views 
of  His  will  and  pleasure  that  we  may  serve  Him  the 
better,  may  not  have  some  beneficial  effect  upon  the 
mind  of  him  who  prays,  though  the  act  be  irrational.  In 
the  case  of  sickness,  if  the  means  of  recovery  by  nature's 
appointed  mode  are  properly  applied,  an  unfounded  faith 
that  God  will  specially  interpose  may  excite  a  livelier 
hope  of  recovery,  and  thus  indirectly  be  of  benefit  to  the 
sufferer,  for  the  reason  that  hope  is  half  the  cure,  and 
tranquillity  and  buoyancy  of  spirit  are  healthful  to  the 
flesh.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  danger  that  faith  in 
prayer — as  if  that  were  the  only  panacea  and  specific — 
may  lead  to  the  systematic  neglect  of  the  true  means  of 
recovery.  The  man  who  asks  God  to  stimulate  him  to 
worship  and  obedience  by  supernatural  means,  or  who 
asks  Him  for  health,  or  wealth,  or  length  of  life,  or  any 
other  especial  grace  or  favour,  acts  in  effect  as  if  God  had 
been  unmindful  of  him,  and  had  not  provided  for  his 
needs ;  and  thereby  virtually  accuses  his  Maker  of  igno- 
rance or  neglect.  It  may  be  said,  however,  in  defence  of 
this  man's  conduct,  that  his  prayer,  though  unanswered, 
is  not  without  spiritual  uses.  Were  a  man  in  a  floating 
boat  to  pull  at  a  rope  attached  to  the  shore,  having  all 
the  time  perfect  faith  that  he  is  pulling  the  shore  to  the 
boat,  instead  of  hauling  the  boat  to  the  shore,  it  would 
make  no  difference  with  him  which  was  the  result,  so  that 
the  boat  and  shore  came  together  at  last.  So,  while  a 
man  prays  God  to  come  to  him,  he  may  be  unwittingly 
drawing  himself  to  God,  through  God's  originally  ap- 
pointed or  natural  means,  independent  of  prayer — while 
he  imagines  that  God  is  coming  to  him  by  supernatural 
means,  that  is,  at  the  instance  of  prayer.  In  this  way 
man  may  conceive  himself  benefited  by  the  usual  mode 
of  prayer,  and  thus  fail  to  recognise  the  true  source  of 
the  benefit.  But  it  is  important  to  the  highest  worship 
of  God  that  man  should  have  full  faith  that  God  originally 


64  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

provided  for  whatever  is  needful  for  him,  so  that  he 
may  understand  that  if  he  fail  to  enjoy  these  provisions 
on  the  terms  primarily  prescribed  by  God,  it  is  through 
his  own  mistake  or  neglect,  and  not  God's — as  man's 
irrational  prayer  would  imply. 

Prayer  is  not  worship ;  and  the  only  worship  that  can 
be  acceptable  to  God  consists  in  obedience  to  His  Divine 
and  beneficial  laws,  and  in  thankfulness  and  gratitude  for 
the  gifts  so  lavishly  showered  upon  us. 

The  religion,  which  the  spiritual  necessities  of  mankind 
require,  finds  its  only  foundation  in  the  teachings  of  God 
to  all  men,  and  is  aptly  illustrated  in  the  precepts  and 
pure  teachings  of  Jesus, — when  disencumbered  of  Judaism 
and  all  the  Mosaic  mythology, — to  wit,  adoration  of  God, 
and  love  and  duty  to  man.  This  is  the  one  true  religion 
established  in  the  hearts,  consciences,  and  souls  of  all 
men  from  the  beginning,  which  ever  has  been,  and  ever 
will  be  sufficient  to  the  end,  that,  through  God's  wisdom, 
goodness,  and  justice,  the  existence  of  each  member  of 
the  human  family  shall  result  in  the  glorification  of  the 
Creator  and  the  happiness  of  His  creatures — be  the  path 
travelled  ever  so  tortuous  or  rough. 

By  the  persistency  with  which  Christian  teachers  of 
all  denominations  and  sects — from  the  pope  down  to  the 
elected  minister  of  the  poorest  chapel  or  meeting-house- 
continue  to  dwell  on  the  allegory  of  the  Fall  of  Man,  and 
the  consequent  supposed  necessity  of  Christ's  sacrifice, 
all  people  of  emancipated  intellect  are  driven  from  the 
churches  in  despair  and  weariness  of  spirit.  The  multi- 
tude, like  those  who  followed  Jesus  to  the  mountain, 
hunger  for  the  bread  of  life,  and  are  presented  with  a 
theological  stone,  in  which  there  is  no  mental  or  spiritual 
nutriment.  God,  according  to  the  teachings  of  Moses,  is 
a  God  of  anger  and  to  be  feared,  who  could  not  be  pro- 
pitiated but  with  sacrifices  and  burnt  offerings.  God, 
according  to  His  own  teachings,  is  a  God  of  perfect 


The  God  of  Moses  65 

goodness,  who  requires  no  sacrifice  from  His  creatures ; 
nothing  but  faith  and  cheerful  obedience  to  the  benevolent 
laws  which  He  instituted  for  their  spiritual  and  physical 
happiness.  The  God  of  Moses  did  not  know,  and  could 
not  foresee,  anything  that  was  to  happen  in  His  own 
creation.  The  God  of  all  is  all-wise ;  and  from  His  omni- 
science nothing  is  hidden,  in  the  past,  the  present,  or 
the  future.  To  reconcile  these  two  systems,  or  to  en- 
graft one  upon  the  other,  as  all  the  Christian  Churches 
have  attempted  to  do  for  more  than  eighteen  centuries, 
is  impossible.  They  are  antagonistic,  discordant,  and 
irreconcilable.  If  one  be  true,  the  other  must  be  false. 
If  a  theory  supposed  to  be  true  at  one  time  ceased  to 
be  true  at  another,  it  can  never  have  been  true  at  all ; 
for  God's  truths  are  eternal  as  Himself.  The  doctrine 
taught  by  God  from  the  beginning,  and  which  is  ever 
being  echoed  and  re-echoed  in  the  souls  of  all  men — 
that  He  is  infinite  in  goodness  as  in  all  things,  and  that 
man's  highest  duty  is  to  cultivate  the  sublime  germ  of 
love  to  God  and  man  within  himself,  so  that  its  legitimate 
fruits  may  be  produced  by  contributing,  as  far  as  it  is 
consistent  with  his  duty  to  himself,  to  the  happiness 
and  well-being  of  all  God's  creatures — this  doctrine, 
this  religion,  this  teaching,  needs  no  support  from  Moses 
or  his  theology.  It  is  the  only  known  religion  that  may 
be  safely  stripped  of  all  externals,  and  left  in  its  beautiful 
simplicity,  to  appeal  to  the  heart  and  intellect  of  the 
humblest,  as  well  as  of  the  most  exalted  of  mankind. 
The  mischief  is  that  this  religion  has  been  adulterated 
with  falsehoods,  which,  under  the  disguise  of  vital  truths, 
have,  as  Jesus  said,  not  brought  peace  into  the  world, 
but  continual  strife,  and  the  sword,  and  theological  dis- 
sensions ;  and  probably  these  dissensions  will  never  cease 
until  religion  is  thoroughly  purged  of  all  false  theology. 

All  the  Christian  Churches,  following  Moses  and  the 
Old  Testament,  in  one  breath  declare  God  to  be  a  God  of 


66  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Love — to  which  all  His  works  bear  witness — and  in  the 
next  that  He  is  wrathful,  revengeful,  and  cruel ;  that  He 
is  a  God  who  has  determined  to  inflict,  everlastingly,  the 
most  horrible  torture  on  every  individual  of  the  human 
race  who  shall  in  the  course  of  his  life  commit  a  single 
sin,  or  fail  to  observe  the  least  of  His  laws.  Further 
than  this,  they  declare  that  the  human  race  merits  this 
punishment,  even  though  personally  they  commit  no  sin, 
because  Adam,  the  first  man,  sinned ;  and  that  God's 
love  is  shewn  by  His  permitting  Jesus — himself  God — to 
atone  for  Adam's  transgression,  though  the  benefits  of 
this  atonement  are  not  to  be  extended  to  any  one  who 
does  not  have  entire  faith  in  its  efficacy.  This  doctrine 
is  so  utterly  at  variance  with  the  never-ceasing  logic  of 
Nature,  and  with  the  constant  manifestations  of  God's 
goodness  and  justice,  that  to  escape  the  dilemma,  they 
who  teach  it  are  led  to  resort  to  various  subterfuges  to 
make  the  faith  acceptable  to  those  on  whom  they  would 
impose  it.  Out  of  these  falsehoods  and  contradictions 
have  grown  the  never-ending  disagreements,  disputes, 
and  contentions  of  religious  sects  and  their  spiritual 
instructors — "  blind  leaders  of  the  blind."  It  was  these 
very  contradictions  and  dissensions  that  brought  about, 
not  only  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus,  but  all  the  wars  that 
have  been  waged  in  the  world  for  opinion's  sake  in  rela- 
tion to  theological  matters,  since  the  days  of  Moses  and 
the  Prophets.  Jesus  said  that  he  came  not  to  send  peace, 
but  a  sword.  And  it  has  been  calculated  that  the  wars 
which  have  been  waged  on  account  of  the  differences  of 
opinion  in  or  on  doctrinal  points  have  cost  the  lives  of 
above  two  millions  of  people.  Those  engaged  in,  to 
establish  Christianity,  and  those  persevered  in,  against 
the  Turks  concerning  the  Holy  Land,  have  cost  many 
millions  more.  The  wars  of  Charlemagne  to  Christianise 
the  Saxons,  and  of  the  Spaniards  to  convert  the  Moors 
and  Americans,  have  deluged  the  earth  with  innocent 


Priestcraft  67 

blood.  And  the  Inquisition  alone,  since  its  foundation  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  has  burnt  above  one  hundred 
thousand  persons  of  both  sexes,  besides  destroying  twice 
that  number  by  torture  and  the  dungeon.  To  this  point 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  hereafter. 

It  may  be  asked  whether  what  the  Christian  Churches 
preach  and  claim  to  be  indispensable  to  man's  salvation 
is  altogether  wrong.  This  is  not  asserted.  No  teaching 
addressed  to  man's  religious  nature  can  be  entirely  in 
error  which  obtains  such  an  ascendency  over  the  minds 
of  men.  It  has  much  truth,  but  a  great  deal  of  error;  and 
what  it  has  of  truth  is  mixed  up  with  error  in  such  a  way 
as  to  render  it  extremely  difficult  for  the  mass  of  man- 
kind to  separate  the  one  from  the  other.  Priestcraft  is 
fully  aware  of  the  value  of  theological  fable  as  a  means 
of  strengthening  and  consolidating  its  power  over  human 
affairs ;  and,  lest  the  simple  truths  of  Nature,  which  all 
may  study,  should  have  their  legitimate  effect  in  assign- 
ing to  the  every-day  duties  of  life  their  legitimate  import- 
ance in  making  up  the  sum  of  man's  religious  duty,  the 
Christian  Churches  all  insist  that,  if  man's  thankfulness  to 
the  one  God  be  ever  so  great,  and  all  the  duties  of  life  be 
ever  so  well  performed,  yet,  if  faith  in  the  necessity  and 
efficacy  of  Christ's  atonement  for  sin  be  lacking,  he  must 
suffer  everlasting  torment  in  hell-fire.  Each  sect  claims  to 
be  the  exclusive  exponent  of  the  means  appointed  by  God 
to  enable  man  to  escape  from  this  torment.  Out  of,  and  by 
means  of,  this  vast  fraud  and  shameless  inroad  upon  men's 
credulity,  priests  and  governments  that  support  them  have 
filched  from  the  toiling  people  millions  of  treasure  to  sup- 
port them  in  the  exercise  of  their  trade  or  profession. 

The  idea  of  hell,  hell-fire,  and  eternal  torment,  when 
properly  considered,  is  an  idea  that  is  alike  blasphemous 
and  illogical.  Not  so  with  the  idea  of  eternal  progress 
toward  infinite  knowledge  and  happiness,  which  is  a 
natural  deduction  from  our  earthly  experience. 


68  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

It  is  manifest  from  the  nature  of  man,  that  if  he  could, 
in  advance,  read  the  future  with  certainty,  it  would  unfit 
him  for  the  affairs  of  this  life  and,  by  inference,  for  the 
part  assigned  him  in  the  next.  It  is  illogical  to  insist 
that  God,  in  giving  man  his  various  faculties,  did  not 
intend  that  he  should  use  those  faculties  to  the  best 
advantage  in  all  things  pertaining  to  his  duty,  his  happi- 
ness, and  his  welfare,  both  in  relation  to  this  life  and  the 
life  to  come.  It  is  insisted,  however,  by  the  priesthood 
that  man  must  ignore  his  common  sense  and  reasoning 
faculties  when  he  comes  to  deal  with  the  affairs  of  the 
future  life.  The  maintenance  of  this  requirement  can 
only  be  accounted  for  upon  the  idea  that  the  Churches 
well  know  that,  if  man  were  to  use  all  faculties  for  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge  and  the  ascertainment  of  truth 
in  relation  to  his  duty  to  his  Maker,  the  hold  which  they 
have  on  the  purses  of  the  people  would  be  weakened,  or 
perhaps,  entirely  lost.  The  only  religion  which  has  exer- 
cised its  influence  over  the  minds  and  conduct  of  men 
from  first  to  last — whether  recognised  or  not — is  that 
here  advocated ;  and  it  will  continue  to  exercise  that 
influence,  notwithstanding  all  the  false  teachings  and 
adverse  influences  that  have  been,  or  may  be,  brought  to 
bear  against  it. 

A  ship  is  swept  along  by  the  Gulf  Stream  on  the  way 
to  its  destination,  although  those  on  board  may  not  be 
aware  of  the  causes  that  are  impelling  it  onward.  They 
might,  indeed,  from  a  want  of  knowledge  on  the  subject, 
ascribe  their  onward  course  towards  the  wished-for  haven 
to  a  cause  totally  different  from  the  true  one — even  to  a 
cause  that  was  in  reality  retarding  them,  as  theology 
retards  religion.  And  more  especially  might  this  be  the 
case  with  a  portion  of  the  voyagers  if  there  were  others 
on  board  who  from  selfish  motives  were  using  means  to 
deceive  their  fellow-travellers  as  to  the  true  source  of 
their  progress.  In  the  same  way,  are  not  mankind  car- 


Influence  of  the  True  Religion         69 

ried  onward  by  the  vast  stream  of  influences  set  in 
motion  by  God,  from  the  first,  upon  which  all  the  human 
family  have  been  or  will  be  embarked  ?  This  tide,  bear- 
ing man  to  the  final  home  which  God  has  prepared  for 
him,  no  human  power  can  stay.  Man  may,  from  short- 
sightedness, or  false  teaching,  or  both,  be  unmindful,  or 
even  unconscious  of  the  true  channel  through  which  God's 
blessings  are  continually  conferred  upon  him ;  yet  they 
flow  on  incessantly.  God  makes  ample  allowance  for 
man's  want  of  knowledge  and  is  patient  and  forbearing, 
ever  educating  him  to  broader  truths,  and  leading  him  to 
a  higher  state.  He  has  made  sure,  too,  that  under  the 
influence  of  Nature's  teachings,  he  will  at  last  come 
within  the  fold  prepared  for  him,  and  be  enabled  to 
appreciate  aright  the  justice  and  wisdom  of  his  great 
Benefactor.  And  He  has  further  made  sure  that  the  true 
light,  deep  down  in  man's  soul,  and  the  faith  and  hope 
based  upon  the  idea  of  one  God,  the  Great  First  Cause  of 
all,  shall  never  be  extinguished.  Not  all  the  false  teach- 
ings or  injurious  influences  of  human  power  that  were 
ever  put  in  motion  shall  disturb  this  firm  foundation.  It 
is  a  germ  of  truth  in  the  soul  of  man,  which  will  most 
surely  bring  forth  its  legitimate  fruits  in  God's  own  good 
time.  It  is  nurtured  and  watered  by  Him,  and  it  will 
enable  man  more  and  more  to  understand  and  appreciate 
His  goodness  and  advance  nearer  and  nearer  toward  His 
perfections.  The  germ  in  the  seed  of  the  fig  tree,  the 
vine,  and  every  other  plant  and  herb,  is  especially  cared 
for  by  God,  to  the  end  that  its  vitality  shall  be  preserved. 
In  process  of  time,  under  the  influences  with  which  God 
has  surrounded  it,  it  is  quickened  and  springs  up  into  life. 
It  is  fostered  and  cherished  by  God,  through  Nature,  and 
it  flourishes  and  seemingly  rejoices  in  the  sunlight  and 
the  balmy  air,  ever  pushing  forward  with  increasing  en- 
ergy to  the  fulfilment  of  its  destined  office  in  the  world. 
No  human  power  can  thwart  God's  purpose  in  this.  He 


70  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

has  willed — and  His  will  is  law — that  the  earth  shall 
bring  forth  trees,  shrubs,  herbs,  plants,  flowers,  and  fruit, 
in  order  that  this  Eden  in  which  He  has  placed  man 
may  be  filled  with  beauty  for  his  sight  and  with  abun- 
dance for  his  taste.  But  in  this,  as  in  other  things,  His 
bounty  comes  not  single-handed.  Through  the  same  pro- 
cess by  which  He  administers  to  man's  sense  of  the  sub- 
lime and  beautiful,  He  supplies  the  physical  necessities  of 
all  His  creatures.  Now,  if  He  has  so  protected  the  germ 
in  the  mustard  seed,  and  trained  it  with  certainty  to  fulfil 
His  design,  shall  He  do  less  for  man  ?  Yet,  according  to 
the  teaching  of  the  Churches,  we  are  asked  to  believe 
that  of  all  the  things  created  by  God  man  was  left  in 
the  most  precarious  condition,  placed  in  the  greatest 
jeopardy,  least  likely  to  fulfil  the  intentions  of  his  Maker, 
and  condemned,  for  no  fault  of  his  own,  to  be  eternally 
punished  with  torments  too  horrible  to  comprehend. 
How  utterly  inconsistent  and  at  variance  with  all  the 
dispensations  of  God's  providence  which  man  meets  at 
every  turn  in  his  life  and  experience,  is  this  idea !  God's 
goodness  and  His  tender  care  of  man  are  manifest  in  thou- 
sands of  ways ;  and  the  mildness  of  the  punishment  for 
a  breach  of  His  laws,  and  the  evidently  benign  intention 
of  such  punishment,  declare  most  emphatically  that  God, 
represented  in  any  other  light  than  as  infinite  goodness, 
is  not  the  God  who  reveals  Himself  to  the  heart,  the  con- 
science, and  the  intellect  of  all  men,  at  all  times. 

So  far  as  man's  career  is  traced — which  is  no  farther 
than  the  grave — no  discoverable  advantage  accrues  to  those 
who  assent  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Fall  of  Man  through 
Adam  and  his  restoration  through  Christ ;  and  no  discov- 
erable disadvantage  befalls  those  who  have  not  arrived  at 
such  a  belief.  Those  who  belong  to  the  latter  class,  and 
who  make  up  the  great  majority,  or  more  than  three 
fourths  of  the  human  race,  are  as  good  citizens,  as  good 
husbands,  as  good  wives,  as  good  parents,  as  good  chil- 


Man's  Predisposition  to  Credulity       71 

dren,  as  good  neighbours,  and  are  equally  as  cheerful, 
equally  as  happy,  and  equally  as  honest  as  the  small 
remnant  who  believe,  or  who  pretend  to  believe,  in  the 
Fall  of  Man  through  Adam.  The  Christian  proclaims 
that  all  who  do  not  embrace  the  dogmas  on  which  the 
Churches  are  built  are  under  the  condemnation  of  God 
and  are  not  allowed  to  participate  in  the  benefits  of  His 
goodness  in  the  world  to  come.  Now,  since  there  is  no 
apparent  difference  in  the  distribution  of  such  benefits  in 
this  world,  it  is  fair  to  infer  there  is  none  in  the  other. 
But  since  we  cannot  trace  man  thither  except  by  logical 
induction,  which  is  not  subject  to  positive  confirmation, 
the  Churches  make  the  most  of  man's  ignorance  in  this 
respect — an  ignorance  no  greater  than  their  own — and 
promise  him  transcendent  benefits  in  eternity  as  the 
reward  of  his  faith,  and  for  his  support  of  the  churches. 

Man,  by  nature  and  for  wise  purposes,  has  a  predisposi- 
tion to  credulity.  He  loves  the  marvellous  and  the  mys- 
terious. From  this  phase  of  his  character  proceeds  the 
wonderful  influence  which  the  false  doctrine  of  super- 
natural revelation  has  so  long  maintained  over  the  human 
mind  through  the  incomprehensible  mysteries  contained 
in  the  Bible,  based  upon  prophecy  and  miracles.  The  less 
man's  reasoning  faculties  are  developed,  the  greater  is  the 
attraction  which  the  marvellous  and  miraculous  have  for 
him ;  and  the  readier  is  the  credence  he  gives  to  them. 
Hence  it  is  the  least  enlightened  of  our  race,  both  in  this 
and  every  other  age  of  the  world,  who  are  the  most  liable 
to  be  led  astray  by  tales  of  sorcery,  witchcraft,  and  ghosts. 
And  have  not  witchcraft  and  supernatural  appearances  of 
departed  spirits  as  great  a  claim  on  our  credulity  as  the 
miracles  of  the  Bible?  The  existing  generation  of  men 
has  advanced  toward  mental  manhood  so  far  as  to  discard 
many  of  the  superstitious  fictions  of  the  incipient  stage 
of  the  human  race,  and  would  emancipate  itself  still 
more  rapidly  and  completely  than  it  is  doing,  but  for  the 


72  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

struggle  made  against  it  by  the  Churches.  And  they  are 
now  the  only  obstacle  to  man's  entire  deliverance  from 
such  a  thraldom.  Seeing,  however,  how  much  their  in- 
fluence and  their  gain  are  endangered  by  the  spread  of 
learning  and  intelligence,  they  are  the  more  tenacious 
and  persistent  in  their  efforts  to  uphold,  and  to  root  more 
deeply  still  into  the  minds  of  the  people  a  superstitious 
belief  in  the  mysteries  of  the  Bible.  But  this  once  mighty 
influence  is  on  the  wane.  The  light  of  irrefutable  truth 
has  dawned  upon  the  mental  vision  of  all  the  civilised 
nations  upon  earth,  and  the  darkness  of  theological  error 
will  soon  be  forever  dispersed.  Let  the  Churches,  if  they 
be  wise,  look  to  this  matter  in  time.  The  true  and  last- 
ing interest  of  the  clergy  lies  in  conforming  without 
delay  to  the  imperative  intellectual  demands  of  the  age. 
Unadulterated  truth  must  be  taught  from  the  pulpit — 
if  anything  at  all.  The  people  will  not  much  longer 
continue  to  listen  to  doctrines  and  dogmas,  for  the  belief 
of  which  there  exists  in  man  not  one  single  innate  fac- 
ulty commending  them  either  to  the  judgment  or  to  the 
heart,  but  which,  on  the  contrary,  cause  his  whole  nature 
to  revolt. 

The  Churches  tell  us  that  man  cannot  answer  the  just 
demands  of  God,  and  that,  therefore,  by  necessity,  he 
merits  God's  everlasting  condemnation,  and  his  own  utter 
destruction ;  but  the  heart  of  man  rejects  the  blasphemy, 
and  realises  that  God  knows  exactly  how  much  and  what 
allowances  to  make  in  behalf  of  man's  short-sightedness. 
Man  is  so  far  inferior  to  his  Maker  that  He  will  make 
every  allowance  in  calling  man  to  account  for  his  mis- 
deeds. Indeed,  God's  justice  demands  that  man's  free 
agency,  to  which  He  Himself  has  set  limits,  should  not 
be  so  far  extended  as  that  man's  existence  could  possibly 
become  a  curse  to  him,  or  anything  else  than  a  blessing, 
either  in  time  or  in  eternity.  His  manifest  goodness  in 
this  world,  to  us  and  to  all  the  various  forms  of  animated 


God's  Goodness  and  Man's  Happiness      73 

life,  is  so  self-evident,  that  all  who  honestly  investigate 
the  blessings  and  beauties  of  nature,  and  correctly  reason 
upon  them,  must  be  convinced  of  it.  As  we  mount  from 
nature  up  to  nature's  God,  we  find  not  only  that  "  what- 
ever is,  is  right,"  and  must  be  right,  but  that  whatever  is, 
is  good,  and  must  be  good.  Were  it  not  for  that  which 
we  ignorantly  designate  as  evil,  good  would  not  be  known 
to  us,  and  would  not  be  properly  appreciated.  So  far  as 
we  are  imperfect  beings,  we  are  sure  to  make  mistakes 
and  to  suffer  for  them ;  but  the  very  correction  must  be 
seen  to  be  beneficial  to  us ;  because  it  teaches  us  not  to 
offend  against  God's  laws  again ;  and  in  this  way  the 
seeming  evil  is  made  instrumental  in  the  training  of  man 
to  his  best  estate.  The  same  kindness,  therefore,  which 
is  so  eminently  bestowed  upon  man  in  this  world,  will, 
we  infer,  be  continued  to  him  in  the  next.  This  we  are 
bound  to  believe,  because  we  know  that  God's  goodness, 
like  Himself,  is  infinite,  and  cannot  fail  or  be  withdrawn 
from  any  of  His  creatures — unless  we  admit  God  to  be  of 
changeable  purposes,  which  we  cannot  do  without  denying 
His  wisdom  and  perfection. 

The  most  obvious  and  natural  idea  of  the  happiness 
reserved  for  man  in  eternity  is,  that  it  shall  be  a  con- 
tinuation and  an  augmentation  of  the  purest  and  most 
ennobling  joys  which  he  has  experienced  in  time ;  that 
his  soul,  perpetually  thirsting  for  truth  and  knowledge, 
shall  be  permitted  to  see  and  understand  those  great 
mysteries  of  God  which  have  been  partially  concealed 
from  him  on  earth ;  and  that  he  shall  forever  approach 
nearer  and  nearer  to  the  Divine  perfections,  to  which,  how- 
ever, he  can  never  wholly  attain  ;  and  that  every  step  of 
his  infinite  progression  shall  be  attended  with  loftier  de- 
lights than  the  constitution  of  his  physical  frame  could 
ever  have  permitted  him  to  enjoy  while  on  earth.  God 
hath  endowed  man  with  various  qualities  and  capacities, 
adapted  to  his  present  life ;  and  made  each  a  ministering 


74  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

angel  to  his  happiness.  Is  not  this  an  evidence  that  He 
will  endow  him  in  the  future  life  with  higher  qualities 
and  more  enlarged  capacities  to  comprehend,  appreciate* 
and  enjoy  God's  wisdom,  goodness,  and  glory,  in  an  ever- 
advancing  degree?  The  spirit  of  all  men  seems  so  to 
whisper ;  and  God  has  given  them  faith  that  the  high 
poetic  reveries  of  the  soul  shall  not  be  disappointed. 
These  are  things  which  God,  indeed,  has  not  permitted 
us  to  know;  but  on  the  other  hand  He  has  not  permitted 
us  to  be  without  a  lively  hope  that  we  shall  at  some  time 
enjoy  them.  There  is  no  complete,  positive,  or  mathe- 
matical proof  that  what  we  call  the  soul  is  immortal. 
All  that  we  can  learn  about  it  comes  through  our  intui- 
tions, our  instincts,  and  an  innate  consciousness  of  it, 
corroborated  by  the  belief  of  all  men,  in  all  ages  and  in 
all  countries,  that  a  glorious  eternity  of  some  sort  lies 
before  us.  If  this  be  not  the  fact,  as  we  fondly  deem, 
then  God  has  given  to  every  human  being  a  delusive  faith 
in  His  kindness ;  an  abiding  trust  in  His  goodness,  never 
to  be  realised.  This  is  inconceivable ;  it  is  at  total  vari- 
ance with  God's  benign  dispensations  on  our  behalf  here  ; 
and  with  the  indubitable  fact  that  it  is  impossible  to  de- 
stroy the  smallest  atom  of  matter  that  was  ever  created. 
Matter  may  be  changed  and  transformed,  but  it  cannot 
be  annihilated  ;  and  if  this  eternity  is  the  appanage  of  the 
physical  substances  and  elements  of  which  the  universe  is 
composed,  shall  it  not  also  be  the  appanage  of  the  soul  ? 
We  cannot  believe  otherwise.  We  accept  the  proofs  with 
as  much  faith  and  as  thorough  a  conviction  as  we  have 
in  accepting  proofs  of  mathematical  science,  though  they 
are  not  based  so  entirely  upon  mere  reason  as  upon 
something  which  we  feel  to  be  superior  to  reason  and  a 
more  direct  utterance  of  the  voice  of  God.  This  cannot 
be  a  vain  imagining.  The  unwritten  poetry  —  that  whis- 
pers to  us  of  a  life  beyond  the  grave,  pervades  all  nature, 
and  even  comes  to  us  more  audibly  from  the  starry  uni- 


Time  Is  Not  the  Measure  of  the  Soul      75 

verse  than  from  the  earth  —  proclaims  that  time,  which  is 
but  the  turning  of  the  small  globe  upon  which  we  live,  is 
not  the  measure  of  that  far-seeing  soul  and  that  ample 
intellect  which,  though  imprisoned  for  a  while  within  the 
flesh,  has  so  far  transcended  its  carnal  limits  as  to  discover 
stars  and  whole  systems  so  deep  in  the  infinitudes  of 
space  that  the  light  projected  by  them,  according  to  sci- 
entific calculation,  takes  a  time  almost  beyond  man's 
comprehension  to  travel  from  their  place  in  creation  to 
ours.  Such  facts  and  such  discoveries  teach  us  that  the 
soul,  which  aspires  so  high,  is  justified  in  aspiring;  that 
it  came  from  God,  and  must  approach  nearer  to  Him  for 
ever.  The  line  of  that  eternal  progression  is  influenced, 
in  some  degree,  by  the  operation  of  causes  within  man's 
own  control. 

Let  those  learned  men  who  are  the  chief  dignitaries  of 
the  churches  look  to  the  intellectual  development  of  our 
times.  They  should  be  the  allies,  and  not  the  foes,  of 
human  intellect.  To  them  all  the  truths  of  science  should 
be  welcome,  because  they  are  divine.  That  true  religion 
which  exists  in  the  heart  as  well  as  in  the  soul  needs  no 
fables  to  recommend  it  to  our  acceptance.  The  so-called 
Sacred  Books,  to'which  they  still  call  upon  us  to  yield  a 
slavish  faith,  should  be  acknowledged  by  them  to  be 
without  that  sanctity  which  cannot  attach  to  them  if 
they  be  contradicted  by  geology  and  by  astronomy  and 
by  every  new  discovery  of  natural  and  physical  truths. 
The  stars  alone  are  a  perpetual  reproof  to  the  ignorant 
mythologies  with  which  the  clergy  still  endeavour  to  mis- 
lead the  people.  Newton,  Laplace,  Leverrier,  and  Rosse 
were  greater  teachers  of  religion  than  any  pope  or  bishop, 
or  other  ecclesiastic  who  ever  lived  or  preached.  If,  in- 
stead of  theological  and  doctrinal  discourses  founded 
upon  historical  errors  and  false  ideas  of  God,  the  preachers 
and  teachers,  accepting  the  great  truths  of  science,  would 
preach  God  in  all  His  works  and  religion  in  its  purity, 


76  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

conformably  to  the  intelligence  of  the  age — let  the  im- 
mediate consequences"  be  what  they  might — their  efforts 
would  prove  beneficial  in  the  highest  degree.  Jesus  so 
taught  religion  in  the  two  commandments ;  for  which 
teaching  he  was  crucified.  God  is  ever  teaching  it  in  its 
fulness.  The  time  is  ripening  for  this  development. 
Uneasiness  and  doubt  sit  within  the  assemblies  of  all 
mythological  worshippers.  It  is  not  only  the  sheep,  but 
the  shepherds,  who  see  the  approaching  change,  and  know 
it  to  be  inevitable. 

Great  thoughts  are  heaving  in  the  world's  wide  breast; 
The  time  is  heaving  with  a  mighty  birth; 

The  old  ideas  fall: 

Men  wander  up  and  down  in  wild  unrest; 
A  sense  of  change  preparing  for  the  Earth 
Broods  over  all! 

But  not  to  me — oh,  not  to  me  appear 

Perpetual  glooms;  I  see  the  heavenly  ray; 
I  feel  the  healthful  motion  of  the  sphere; 
I  see  the  splendour  of  a  brighter  day. 
Ever  since  infant  Time  began, 
More  or  less  darkness  has  been  over  man, 
It  rolls  and  shrivels  up.     It  melts  away! 

The  intellectual  culture  of  the  many,  who  are  yearning 
for  good,  is  more  than  a  match  for  the  learned  priestcraft 
that  domineered  over  the  too  credulous  of  former  ages. 
The  printing  press  now  speaks  to  the  masses,  and  rescues 
them  from  the  thraldom  of  the  oracles  that  spoke  of  old. 

Theologians  declare  that,  in  order  to  make  man  conform 
to  God's  will,  he  must  have  that  will  proclaimed  to  him 
in  special  language  either  by  speech  or  writing,  and  hence 
infer  the  necessity  for  a  Bible.  Let  us  probe  a  little  into 
this  assumed  necessity. 

The  most  casual  observer  of  animal  life,  if  brought  for 


Animal  Instinct  77 

a  moment  to  dwell  seriously  on  the  subject,  could  not  fail 
to  acknowledge  that  God  has  a  mode  of  instructing  His 
creatures  which  amply  suffices  for  their  requirements 
and  His  own  glory.  And  if  this  be  evident  to  the  care- 
less looker-on,  the  closer  student  will  find  a  thousand 
curious  proofs,  alike  in  fulness  and  minuteness,  that  the 
original  instructor  must  have  been  Divine.  But  the 
routine  of  animal  life  being  so  far  known  and  noted  as  to 
acquire  among  us  the  distinctive  appellation  of  "  natural," 
neither  ordinary  observer  nor  critical  student  dreams  of 
attributing  supernatural  causes  to  any  part  of  it.  We 
speak  of  it  as  the  course  of  Nature,  the  ordinance  of  the 
Almighty  ;  and  there  let  it  rest.  No  one  imagines  that  a 
special  revelation  tells  the  migratory  race  of  birds  when 
and  where  the  seasons  are  propitious  for  them,  or  that  an 
inspired  messenger  goes  down  to  the  depths  to  warn  cer- 
tain fish  at  certain  periods  that  it  were  well  for  them  to 
change  their  waters.  We  call  it  all,  in  a  general  way, 
"  instinct ";  while  a  few  thinkers,  perhaps,  recognise  in 
this  selfsame  instinct  the  marvellous  power  and  resources 
of  God. 

Now,  we  hold  that  instinct  is  implanted  in  man,  no  less 
than  in  the  brute  creation.  But  the  instincts  which  apply 
to  man's  spiritual  nature  are  of  an  essentially  different  or- 
der. Animal  instinct  concerns  itself  only  with  life  and  the 
means  of  living ;  and  this  being  its  sole  end,  it  is  restricted 
thereto  ;  and  the  routine  is  limited,  each  after  its  kind. 

Instinct  in  man  is,  we  say,  of  far  higher  quality.  That 
it  is  not  confined  to  a  mere  making  provision  for  the 
flesh  —  as  is  the  case  with  animals  —  is  manifest  from 
the  infinite  variety  of  human  pursuits  and  the  constant 
changes  in  human  condition.  That  it  reaches  up  to 
something  above  and  beyond  this,  to  something  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual,  to  some  mysterious  but  existing  link 
between  creature  and  Creator,  is  palpable,  inasmuch  as 
the  recognition  of  an  over-ruling  Providence  has  been 


8o  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

various  antagonistic  creeds,  theologies,  and  dogmas  there 
are  propounded  for  the  mere  faith  of  man, —  each  sect 
claiming  the  monopoly  of  the  road  to  bliss, —  man  is  being 
so  quietly  conducted  along  the  true  path  to  his  welfare  and 
happiness,  by  a  religion  which  admits  of  no  antagonism — 
by  laws  that  cannot  clash,  but  which  co-operate  har- 
moniously, and  move  on  majestically  and  silently  to  the 
accomplishment  of  God's  purposes  —  that  the  means  by 
which  the  result  is  reached  are  unobserved.  Such  is  the 
case  in  relation  to  the  motion  of  the  earth,  of  which  we 
all  partake ;  and  yet  we  perceive  it  not,  except  through 
its  results.  It  produces  the  various  seasons,  day  and 
night,  seed-time  and  harvest,  summer  and  winter ;  and 
by  it  the  panorama  of  the  heavens  passes  in  succession 
before  the  delighted  gaze  of  the  whole  human  family. 
All  alike  enjoy  these  sights  and  blessings,  whether  they 
are  aware  that  the  immediate  cause  of  them  is  due  to  the 
motions  of  the  earth,  or  not. 

Some  may  not  recognise  the  law  that  guides  them  ; 
and,  to  this  extent,  their  knowledge  being  more  limited, 
their  enjoyment  may  not  be  as  full  as  that  of  others. 
But  when  applied  to  spiritual  things,  this  is  but  a  matter 
of  time  ;  every  human  soul  will,  sooner  or  later,  arrive  at 
such  a  knowledge  and  experience  of  God's  goodness,  wis- 
dom, and  glory  as  to  induce  all  to  thank  and  praise  and 
worship  Him  with  all  their  hearts  and  powers.  Our 
capacity  for  happiness  will  increase  with  our  training  and 
education  ;  and  as  all  must  pass  under  God  through  the 
same  process  of  training,  all  must  at  last  arrive  at  the 
same  appreciation  of  His  goodness  and  glory  —  some,  it 
maybe,  by  a  more  tortuous  course  and  by  the  experience 
of  greater  trials  and  afflictions ;  but  none  the  less  effect- 
tually  to  the  accomplishment  of  God's  design.  What  we 
mean  is,  that  God's  mode  of  training  can  never  fail  to 
accomplish  the  end  He  has  in  view.  It  must  prove  ef- 
fectual. All  will  experience  the  same  results  by  having 


Brought  into  Existence  for  Eternity     81 

been  made  obedient  to  the  same  laws.  The  same  causes, 
which  operate  upon  all  alike,  will  produce  the  same  ef- 
fects in  all ;  else  God  would  not  be  that  impartial  Being 
that  we  conceive  Him  to  be,  which  is  impossible.  When 
a  human  soul  is  brought  into  existence,  it  is  brought  into 
existence  for  eternity,  and  however  little  progress  it  may 
make  in  the  right  direction  during  its  sojourn  on  earth  — 
whether  it  be  taken  hence  in  infancy  or  old  age,  or 
whether  it  has  advanced  .tardily  or  rapidly  in  this  state 
of  probation  —  it  matters  not,  this  being,  as  we  said,  but 
a  matter  of  time.  God  has  ensured  that  it  cannot  fail  in 
being  brought  to  know  and  worship  Him  according  to  His 
good-will  and  pleasure,  and  to  the  attainment  of  supreme 
bliss.  And  as  to  the  mode  whereby  man  is  called  upon, 
while  here,  to  exhibit  his  gratitude  for  the  blessings  and 
bounties  bestowed  upon  him  by  his  Maker,  let  us  see 
what  sort  of  gratitude  is  the  most  acceptable  to 
God. 

Jesus,  whom  we  admit  to  have  been  a  very  good 
teacher  of  natural  religion,  and  who  will  be  taken  by 
most  readers  as  excellent  authority  in  this  respect,  has 
given  us  some  advice  through  his  teaching  to  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees.  When  he  was  asked  :  "  Why  walk  not  thy 
disciples  according  to  the  tradition  of  the  elders,  but  eat 
bread  with  unwashen  hands  ?  "  his  reply  was :  "  Well  hath 
Esaias  prophesied  of  you  hypocrites,  as  it  is  written. 
This  people  honoureth  me  with  their  lips,  but  their  heart 
is  far  from  me.  Howbeit,  in  vain  do  they  worship  me, 
teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men.  For 
laying  aside  the  commandments  of  God,  ye  hold  the  tra- 
dition of  men,  as  the  washing  of  pots  and  cups  —  and 
many  other  such  like  things  ye  do.  Ye  reject  the  com- 
mandment of  God  that  ye  may  keep  your  own  tradition, 
making  the  word  of  God  of  none  effect  through  your 
tradition  which  ye  have  delivered ;  and  many  such  like 
things  do  ye." 

6 


82  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

From  this  we  should  infer  that  this  mere  lip-service  — 
this  religion  of  mere  ceremonies  —  is  not  only  not  the 
worship  which  God  requires,  but  that  it  is  a  hindrance 
thereto.  Forms  and  ceremonies  may  be  well  as  mere 
preliminaries  or  stepping-stones  to  worship.  They  may 
tend  to  quicken  and  train  to  good  acts  the  germ  in  man's 
soul  whence  all  his  goodness  springs.  But  if  they  do  not 
exercise  a  beneficial  influence  on  him  in  relation  to  the 
right  performance  of  the  every-day  duties  of  life — if  they 
do  not  incite  him  to  the  actual  achievement  of  good 
deeds  —  they  are  of  no  avail  in  the  sight  of  God.  Under 
their  influence  the  religious  sentiments  may  expand  ;  but 
if  they  be  not  productive  of  something  more,  they  are  not 
in  accordance  with  God's  high  purposes  in  relation  to 
man.  Can  man  expect  to  be  the  recipient  of  God's  boun- 
ties without  his  doing  the  work  which  God  has  required 
of  him?  Action  is  the  order  of  nature,  and  an  active 
life  of  good  works  —  the  doing  to  others  as  we  would  be 
done  by,  with  a  profound  sense  of  dependence  upon  God 
— is  the  whole  duty  of  man.  The  line  between  that  which 
is  mere  church-form  and  that  which  is  the  substance  of  a 
religious  life  should  be  distinctly  marked.  Instead  of 
this  the  non-essentials  are  put  in  the  foreground  ;  hence, 
man's  religious  instincts  and  common  sense  should  turn 
him  from  mere  barren  ceremonies  to  the  legitimate  field 
of  action.  The  worship  dictated  by  nature  alone  meets 
the  spiritual  wants  of  man.  This  is  really  the  only  com- 
mon ground  on  which  all  can  stand  harmonious.  It 
has  an  inherent  vitality  and  force,  which  will,  under  the 
enlarging  civilisation  and  mental  progress  of  the  day, 
drive  superstition  and  priestcraft  from  the  field,  and  dis- 
perse the  dark  clouds  which  have  so  long  and  so  gloomily 
overshadowed  the  true  light. 

There  exists  in  man  an  innate  or  spontaneous  faith  in 
the  eternal  goodness  and  justice  of  the  Divine  Ruler — a 
conviction  that  man's  best  interest  is  forwarded  by  his 


Spontaneous  Faith  83 

serving  God  according  to  His  universal  teachings.  No 
power  on  earth  can  obliterate  these  teachings,  or  mate- 
rially retard  their  influence,  however  they  may  seem  to 
be  smothered  in  some  by  the  mass  of  theological  dogmas. 
It  still  governs  all  men's  actions,  whether  they  acknow- 
ledge it  or  not,  or  whether  they  are  aware  or  not  that  it  is 
the  sole  controlling  influence  which  is  actuating  them  for 
good  and  restraining  them  from  evil.  The  work  of  the 
age  upon  which  we  have  entered  is  not  to  found  a  re- 
ligion— God  did  that  effectually  at  the  first ;  it  is  to  expose 
the  errors  which  it  has  been  attempted  to  substitute 
for  true  religion.  Every  year  furnishes  additional  proof, 
and  carries  conviction  to  increased  numbers  of  the  rising 
generation,  that  the  Bible  is  full  of  untruths.  This,  irre- 
sistibly, leads  to  free  and  increased  inquiry  in  relation  to 
all  that  is  recorded  therein.  A  new  spirit  is  abroad. 
Men  no  longer  ignore  their  common  sense  in  judging  of 
the  claims  of  the  Bible  to  reliability.  Under  this  mode 
of  scrutiny,  conclusions  and  convictions  adverse  to  Bible 
record  are  accumulating  year  after  year.  Learning,  scien- 
tific research,  and  free  thought  are  fast  opening  the  eyes 
of  all  classes  to  the  imposition  to  which  they  have  been 
subjected  by  the  teachings  of  a  mere  dogmatical  faith. 
Those  who  say  that  the  Bible  must  be  taken  in  all  its 
parts  as  the  only  revealed  Word  of  God  say  also  that 
man's  natural  faculties  are  utterly  corrupt,  depraved,  and 
at  enmity  with  God.  If  this  be  so  —  if  man's  mind  is  so 
wholly  corrupt,  and  all  his  conclusions  in  relation  to  re- 
ligion are  so  wholly  unreliable — how  can  he  comprehend 
aright  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible  and  the  Churches,  which 
are  not  only  at  variance  with  all  his  intellectual  faculties, 
but  are  instinctively  repulsive?  How  is  this  innate  con- 
viction of  the  fallacy  of  the  Bible  doctrines  to  be  over- 
come ?  Any  proofs  offered  to  man's  reason,  or  any 
appeals  made  to  his  conscience,  are  ineffectual  if  the 
faculties  to  which  they  are  addressed  are  as  vicious  and 


84  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

incapable  of  sound  conclusions  as  they  are  represented  to 
be  by  the  Church. 

The  Church  doctrines  carry  with  them  their  own 
refutation,  if  logically  examined.  If  addressed  for  the 
first  time  to  a  mature,  well-balanced,  and  cultivated  mind, 
would  they  not,  at  once,  be  rejected  as  unworthy  of  the 
slightest  credence  ?  This  is  well  understood  ;  hence,  the 
effort,  which  is  constantly  being  made,  to  imbue  with 
them  the  minds  of  children  and  of  others  equally  un- 
suspecting and  pliable. 

If  the  natural  consciousness  of  mankind  is  the  true  basis 
of  religion  and  the  hope  of  a  blessed  immortality,  then  it 
has  a  foundation  that  defies  criticism — and  which  is 
beyond  all  possible  apprehension  of  ever  being  disturbed. 
No  higher  foundation  than  God,  the  Father  of  all,  is 
possible ;  and  no  faith  can  be  so  satisfying  and  thorough 
as  that  which  is  the  inevitable  result  of  the  promptings 
of  that  innate  consciousness  which  is  most  assuredly  of 
God.  All  faith  based  on  ideas  or  conceptions  derived 
from  traditions  of  the  supernatural  is  but  as  chaff  in 
comparison  with  that  derived  from  the  immediate 
promptings  of  God  to  each  individual.  It  is  inconceiv- 
able how  it  is  possible  to  doubt  this ;  or  that  the  in- 
struction which  God  has  given  to  all  alike  is  not  the  true 
guide  to  faith  and  to  the  doing  of  His  will  by  His  creat- 
ures. In  fact,  there  is  no  faith  or  belief  contrary  to  this 
which  has  sufficient  substance  in  it  to  control  any  man 
materially  or  to  modify  his  conceptions  of  his  religious 
duties.  Hence  all  the  faiths  which  men  have  founded 
on  other  than  the  intuitions  of  the  soul  go  for  nothing, 
and  are  impotent  in  respect  to  the  eventual  happiness  of 
the  soul.  They  are  the  result  of  education,  of  the  instill- 
ing of  error  into  the  minds  of  men  from  early  childhood, 
and  had  their  origin  in  the  greed  for  power  and  money. 
All  views  in  relation  to  religion  derived  from  the  Bible  and 
other  sources,  and  which  cannot  be  deduced  from  man's 


Spontaneous  Belief  85 

natural  faculties  independent  of  the  Bible,  must  of  neces- 
sity be  open  to  the  critical  investigation  of  history.  The 
closest,  most  advanced,  and  the  most  learned  investigation 
is  the  most  fatal  to  such  doctrines.  As  an  example  of  this, 
let  the  works  of  the  Bishop  of  Natal  be  consulted.  He 
establishes  most  conclusively  that  the  first  six  books  of 
the  Bible — the  corner-stone  of  the  whole  Canon — were  not 
written  by  their  supposed  author,  and  that  they  are  not 
historically  true,  much  less  Divinely  inspired  and  infal- 
lible. 

Bishop  Colenso's  work  can  hardly  be  overestimated 
for  importance,  when  we  consider  its  inevitable  influence 
on  the  opinions  of  the  masses.  Of  course,  the  fact  of  his 
established  ability,  his  personal  character,  and  his  posi- 
tion as  a  dignitary  of  the  Church  has  had  considerable 
influence  in  adding  to  the  immediate  publicity  of  his 
work. 

Religion  founded  on  human  consciousness  brings  into 
requisition,  and  into  harmonious  union  for  its  right 
understanding  and  practice,  all  the  faculties  and  func- 
tions of  our  nature ;  not  so  with  the  theology  founded  on 
the  Bible.  A  blind  faith  is  there  demanded  in  relation  to 
doctrines  which  neither  the  head,  the  heart,  nor  the  con- 
science can  take  any  part  in  confirming.  A  conception 
of  God  formed  through  all  the  faculties  and  functions  of 
man  acting  in  conjunction  presents  Him  as  a  Being  whom 
to  believe  in  is  to  adore,  and  whom  to  adore  is  to  obey. 

While  all  men  have  a  love  of  the  novel  and  the  mar- 
vellous, few  men  naturally  give  credence  to  the  miraculous 
and  supernatural.  The  human  mind,  in  virtue  of  a  con- 
stitutional bias,  is  prepared  from  the  first  to  count  on  the 
constancy  of  nature's  sequences  which  experience  ever 
confirms.  Similar  causes  always  produce  similar  effects. 
This  is  indispensable  to  the  being  led  through  experience 
to  any  system  of  truth  by  which  to  guide  our  actions  ;  yet 
those  who  under  the  teaching  of  the  Church  from  child- 


86  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

hood,  have  given  a  tacit  assent  to  doctrine  of  especial 
enactments  of  God  at  the  instance  of  prayer  or  other 
cause,  to  provide  for  certain  emergencies,  have  not  even 
in  this  our  enlightened  day  the  moral  courage  to  deny 
altogether  what  they  could  not  bring  themselves  to 
believe — that  is  to  say,  what  did  not  appear  to  them  to 
be  in  harmony  with  the  dictates  of  reason,  and  the  laws 
of  nature.  In  order  to  know  what  man  is  by  nature  and 
apart  from  erroneous  teaching,  we  ought  to  know  what 
he  has  been  under  the  various  theological  teachings  that 
have  prevailed  in  different  ages  and  in  the  several  quart- 
ers of  the  earth.  The  history  of  these  distant  ages  and 
distant  men — apparently  so  foreign  to  our  modern  inter- 
ests— assumes  a  new  charm  as  soon  as  we  know  that  it 
tells  us  the  story  of  our  own  race,  of  our  own  family — 
nay,  of  our  own  selves.  History  gives  us  the  thread  which 
connects  the  present  with  the  past.  Many  scenes,  it  is 
true,  are  lost  beyond  the  hope  of  recovery ;  and  the  most 
interesting  of  all,  the  opening  scenes  of  the  childhood  of 
the  human  race,  are  known  to  us  by  such  small  frag- 
ments only,  that  they  do  but  make  the  more  welcome 
every  word  that  bears  the  impress  of  the  early  days  of 
mankind.  So  far  as  we  can  trace  back  the  footsteps  of 
man,  even  on  the  lowest  strata  of  history,  we  see  that  the 
Divine  gift  of  a  sound  and  sober  intellect  and  all  the  kind 
and  gentle  emotions  belonged  to  him  from  the  very  first. 
The  human  mind  has  an  inborn  reverence  for  the  past, 
that  it  may  the  better  divine  the  future,  to  ferret  out 
which  is  the  ruling  passion  of  man,  since  the  vast  won- 
drous ways  of  God  lie  before  him,  and  God  as  a  magnet 
is  ever  drawing  him  thither.  As  man  the  more  and  more 
obeys  this  Divine  incentive,  he  the  more  and  more  per- 
ceives God's  goodness,  and  discards  formers  false  views, 
and  discharges  many  myths  because  they  are  not  in  har- 
mony with  his  purer  conceptions  of  God,  and  therefore 
must  be  false. 


Study  of  Other  Theologies  87 

The  mythic  form  of  expression  which  prevailed  in 
earlier  ages  is  giving  way  before  comparative  philology, 
which  has  placed  in  our  hands  a  telescope  of  such  power 
that  the  mist  which  the  theologians  would  hold  before 
our  eyes  is  too  thin  to  prevent  God's  perfections  appear- 
ing the  more  and  more  to  us.  He  is  no  longer  a  God  of 
vengeance,  but  a  God  of  infinite  goodness. 

Paul  says :  "  Prove  all  things ;  hold  fast  that  which  is 
good."  Many  are  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  a 
careful  study  of  other  theologies,  creeds,  and  faiths  than 
our  own ;  but  the  greatest  of  all  is,  that  it  teaches  us  to 
appreciate  more  truly  what  it  is  that  constitutes  true  re- 
ligion. Let  us  see  what  other  nations  as  well  as  our  own 
have  had  and  still  have  in  the  place  of  religion  ;  let  us 
examine  the  prayers,  the  worship,  the  theology  even  of 
the  most  highly  civilised  races, — the  Greeks,  the  Romans, 
the  Hindoos,  the  Persians, — and  we  shall  then  understand 
more  thoroughly  what  it  is  that  they  all  agree  upon  as 
true,  and  what  it  is  that  they  differ  in,  and  in  this  way 
be  enabled  to  discriminate  between  the  essential  and 
the  non-essential  in  the  diversified  things  which  have 
been  deemed  worship  at  various  times  and  in  various 
countries. 

Those  who  would  limit  the  riches  of  God's  goodness, 
and  would  hand  over  the  largest  portion  of  the  human 
race  to  inevitable  perdition,  without  having  made  them- 
selves acquainted  with  the  religion  of  those  they  con- 
demn, do  at  the  same  time  impute  to  God  injustice,  upon 
no  better  evidence  than  theology  originating  in  super- 
stition and  priestcraft — they  use  ignorance  as  evidence, 
as  though  it  were  knowledge.  It  is  true  that  until  very 
lately  the  sacred  books  of  three  of  the  most  important 
systems  of  faith,  those  of  the  Brahmans,  the  Buddhists, 
and  the  Parsees,  were  totally  unknown  in  Europe,  but  this 
furnishes  no  valid  excuse  for  those  who  consign  all  who 
do  not  embrace  their  own  theology  to  eternal  torment. 


88  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

The  sincere  and  earnest  seeker  after  truth  (though  he 
may  have  a  deference  for  the  Christian  theology)  as  he 
becomes  acquainted  with  the  history  and  habits  of  the 
various  great  nations  into  which  mankind  is  divided,  can- 
not but  ask  himself  the  question  whether  if  the  heathen 
(as  they  are  disparagingly  termed)  should  judge  of  us 
as  the  Christians  judge  of  them  by  the  worst  phases  of 
human  character  (and  that  exaggerated),  if  we  would 
stand  any  better  in  their  estimation  than  they  do  in  the 
estimation  of  the  Christians. 

If  the  Indians  had  formed  their  notions  of  the  influ- 
ence of  Christianity  on  man  from  the  soldiers  of  Cortez 
and  Pizarro,  or  if  the  Hindoos  had  studied  the  principles 
of  Christian  morality  in  the  lives  of  Clive  and  Warren 
Hastings,  or,  to  take  a  less  extreme  case,  if  a  Mohamme- 
dan or  Buddhist  living  in  Christian  countries  were  to 
test  the  practical  working  of  Christian  charity  by  the 
spirit  displayed  in  the  journals  of  our  various  religious 
parties,  their  notions  of  Christianity  would  be  about  as 
correct  as  the  ideas  which  thousands  of  educated  Christ- 
ians entertain  of  the  character  of  the  heathen  religion. 
Even  Christianity  has  been  depraved  into  Jesuitism  and 
Mormonism,  and  if  we  claim  the  right  to  appeal  to  the 
gospel  as  the  only  test  by  which  our  faith  is  to  be  judged, 
we  must  grant  a  similar  privilege  to  Mohammedans  and 
Buddhists,  and  to  all  who  possess  a  written,  and,  as  they 
believe,  supernaturally  revealed  authority  for  the  articles 
of  their  faith. 

We  cannot  comprehend  how  any  one  who  worships  God 
in  spirit  and  in  truth,  who  holds  that  He  is  perfect  in  all 
things,  that  His  goodness  knows  no  bounds,  can  subscribe 
to  the  dogma  that  God  determined  from  the  first  to  elect 
a  chosen  few  as  the  recipients  of  everlasting  bliss,  and 
consigned  much  the  largest  portion  of  mankind  to  per- 
petual torment,  for  no  fault  of  their  own,  but  at  the  in- 
stance of  an  arbitrary  will,  the  justice  of  which  no  man 


Innate  Promptings  of  the  Heart        89 

can  comprehend.  If  the  holding  of  such  faith,  if  ascrib- 
ing such  character  to  God,  is  not  sinning  against  Him 
and  debasing  ourselves,  we  cannot  conceive  what  is.  God 
is  a  God  of  infinite  goodness,  not  of  vengeance ;  to  be 
loved,  not  to  be  feared ;  to  be  worshipped  for  love's  sake, 
not  through  fear  of  everlasting  punishment. 

How  beautiful  does  this  incentive  to  the  worship  of 
God  appear,  in  comparison  with  that  which  wrings  assent 
from  us  by  the  threat  of  torment !  And  more  particularly 
when  we  take  into  consideration,  that  this  threat  of  tor- 
ment involves  only  a  faith  coming  to  us  from  uncertain 
authority,  and  repugnant  alike  to  our  innate  perceptions 
of  love  and  duty. 

To  present  so  dark  and  hideous  a  picture  of  God  and 
of  His  mode  of  drawing  men  to  Him,  presupposes  that 
there  is  not  enough  in  the  picture  that  God  presents  of 
Himself  to  win  man  to  love  and  worship  Him. 

The  law  implanted  within  the  nature  of  man  to  regu- 
late his  physical  system  is  expressed  by  the  sensations, 
propensities,  promptings,  appetites,  tastes,  and  checks 
that  God  originally  gave  him,  and  that  are  indispensable 
to  the  perpetuity  of  the  human  race.  In  like  manner, 
the  soul  of  each  individual  must  be  guided,  in  its  pursuit 
after  happiness  and  well-being,  by  similar  laws,  which 
God  has  implanted  within  his  moral  nature ;  namely,  by 
the  innate,  instinctive,  irresistible  promptings  of  the  heart 
and  spirit  after  what  is  good,  and  true,  and  just,  and  kind, 
and  lovely.  Indeed,  we  all  know  by  the  necessity  of  the 
case  that  man  has  a  consciousness  and  conviction  within 
him  that  he  possesses  these  perceptions  and  incentives, 
and  that  they  are  the  infallible  guides  which  God  has 
placed  there  for  his  instruction  and  warning.  The  more 
faithful  he  is,  therefore,  to  these  instructions  and  warnings, 
the  more  happy  he  will  be — just  as  the  more  faithful  he  is 
to  the  rules  regulating  the  health  of  his  body,  the  more 
sound  will  be  his  constitution  and  the  freer  he  will  be 


90  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

from  disease.  To  love  God  is  to  love  His  attributes  ;  and 
the  germs  of  that  love  being  within  us,  all  we  have  to  do 
is  to  cultivate  them  and  to  make  them  active.  To  strive 
to  imitate  Him,  or,  rather,  to  inculcate  in  our  hearts  a  love 
of  truth,  justice,  and  goodness  —  the  prime  traits  of  char- 
acter in  the  Almighty  —  is  the  worship  and  homage  that 
are  most  acceptable  to  Him.  But  God  is  represented  in 
the  Bible,  and  by  those  who  adhere  to  its  teachings,  as  be- 
ing endowed  with  attributes,  purposes,  and  modes  of  act- 
ion wholly  inconsistent  with  the  existence  of  such  laws 
and  incentives  to  the  acquisition  and  cultivation  of  virtue 
in  the  heart  of  man.  The  Bible  is,  moreover,  utterly 
irreconcilable  with  itself.  The  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
particularly,  are  at  variance  with  each  other,  and  on  some 
of  the  most  vital  points.  God  Himself  is  represented  as  a/ 
Being  endowed  with  the  most  opposite  traits  of  character. 
In  some  places  He  is  said  to  be  a  God  of  infinite  good- 
ness, love,  and  justice  ;  in  others  a  God  of  hatred,  revenge, 
cruelty,  and  injustice.  He  is  represented  as  so  unjust  as 
to  consign  to  everlasting  punishment  all  those  who  are  not 
His  favourites ;  or,  who  will  not,  or  cannot,  believe  in  the 
very  impracticable  doctrine  that  Jesus  must  save  them, — 
and  that  in  a  way  which  they  cannot  understand.  And 
yet  such  incongruities  are  the  very  opposite  to  the  doc- 
trines of  Jesus,  whom  Christian  theologians  profess  to  rely 
upon  as  the  best  and  most  infallible  guide  to  man.  For, 
with  the  exception  of  some  ideas  which  he  entertained 
toward  the  latter  part  of  his  career,  to  the  effect  that  he 
was  the  Messiah,  and  that  he  would  come  again  at  some 
future  time  to  take  possession  of  his  kingdom,  and  reward 
his  followers,  and  punish  his  enemies  by  bidding  them  to 
depart  forever  from  his  presence  and  province,  which  he 
denominated  everlasting  punishment  —  apart  from  this, 
we  say,  his  religion  was  as  much  in  unison  with  that 
written  on  man's  heart  and  nature  as  it  could  be.  It  was 
in  perfect  accordance  with  that  which  has  just  been  ad- 


The  Devil  91 

vocated,  and  which  is  innate  in  man,  and  only  needs  to  be 
developed  by  stimulation  and  cultivation.  It  was  a  re- 
flection of  God's  laws,  operating  in  the  hearts  of  men. 
Whatever  of  good  there  is  in  man  comes  from  this  source 
and  teaching,  and  from  no  other. 

Again,  the  idea  of  the  existence  of  a  devil,  and  of  the 
baneful  influence  ascribed  to  him  over  the  minds,  conduct, 
and  happiness  of  man,  is  in  direct  contradiction  to  God's 
infinite  power,  justice,  and  goodness. 

If  God  created  man  with  a  free  will;  and  in  His  good- 
ness allowed  him  the  exercise  of  his  free  will  by  setting 
before  him  things,  all  good  in  themselves,  but  by  the  use 
or  abuse  of  which  he  would  experience  good  or  evil 
results  ;  and  if  in  the  exercise  of  his  free  agency  man  some- 
times chooses  the  evil — this  is  but  the  result  of  his  short- 
sightedness and  the  abuse  of  his  free  agency.  It  furnishes 
no  grounds  for  the  idea  of  the  existence  of  such  an  evil 
spirit  as  that  which  is  said  to  run  counter  to  the  nature  of 
God,  and  to  tempt  man  to  sin  against  Him.  The  idea  of 
a  Supreme  Devil,  or  God  of  Evil,  originated  with  the 
Persians,  centuries  before  the  Christian  Theology  was  ever 
thought  of.  Yet  it  is  curious  to  notice,  in  passing,  how 
differently  the  Church  has  treated  the  Persian  Div,  and  the 
Cre  God,  who  is  common  to  all  faiths.  Out  of  the  one 
true  God,  it  has  made  a  triform  and  triune  Deity,  scarcely 
less  fantastic  than  certain  divinities  worshipped  by  Pagans ; 
while  the  Div,  or  Satan,  is  allowed  to  maintain  his  poten- 
tial unity,  and  figures  in  the  Church's  cheerful  programme 
for  this  world  as  going  about  like  a  roaring  lion  seeking 
whom  he  may  devour ;  and  in  the  next,  as  executioner- 
in-chief  to  an  extremely  wrathful  judge. 

Now  it  is  against  all  reason  to  suppose,  for  a  moment, 
that  there  is  such  an  evil  principle  so  embodied,  and  there- 
fore Div  cannot  be  admitted  as  a  medium  of  temptation 
to  man.  When  man  errs,  it  is  not  the  result  of  an  innate 
viciousness ;  nor  because  he  has  anything  placed  before 


92  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

him  which  contains  properties  that  are  evil  in  themselves. 
It  is  because  he  is  either  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  those 
properties,  or  because  being  careless  or  reckless  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  his  free  agency,  he  indulges  too  freely  in  their 
use.  Education  only  in  addition  to  his  innate  percep- 
tions can  regulate  him  in  this  matter.  And  to  this  end 
God  has  ordained  that,  whenever  man  oversteps  the 
bounds  of  propriety,  he  shall  suffer  for  it  at  once ;  or 
within  such  time  that  the  punishment  for  delinquencies 
that  are  incident  to  man  while  in  the  flesh  may  serve  the 
purpose  of  correction  and  warning.  In  this  way,  God's 
punishments,  termed  by  the  Church,  "  the  vengeance  of 
the  Almighty,"  are  all  applied  in  mercy.  There  would  be 
confusion  and  inconsistency  and  injustice  in  the  idea  that 
man  is  to  be  chastised  in  a  future  state  of  existence  for 
crimes  committed  in  this  ;  there  can  be  no  temptation  be- 
yond the  grave  to  commit  crimes  that  specially  appertain 
to  this  life ;  and,  therefore,  such  punishment  would  be 
retrospective  and  totally  useless  for  God's  sole  end  of 
training  and  improvement.  His  is  not  punishment  de- 
ferred. Neither  is  punishment  by  His  laws  appropriate 
after  the  offender  has  corrected  himself.  God's  punish- 
ment, we  repeat,  is  for  the  correction  of  the  fault  com- 
mitted, with  reference  to  future  amendment.  It  is  not 
— it  would  be  absurd  to  say  that  it  is — eternal  punishment 
for  faults  which  God  notes  down,  and  that  He  inflicts  it 
in  a  revengeful  spirit  at  some  future  time  when  it  may  be 
presumed  that  even  the  memory  of  their  committal  has 
passed  away.  No,  this  is  unworthy  of  infinite  goodness  ; 
and  we  hold  it  to  be  entirely  irrational.  The  bare  idea 
that  God  could  for  any  offence,  or  for  any  cause  whatso- 
ever, determine  that  any  of  His  creatures  should  be  irre- 
coverably tormented  upsets  at  once  the  idea  of  the  whole 
nature  and  perfections  of  God,  and  makes  Him  —  not  what 
the  Bible  describes  Him  to  be,  in  some  places,  a  God  of 
love,  but  what  it  describes  Him  to  be  in  other  places — 


God's  Perfection  93 

"  a  consuming  fire,"  a  revengeful,  hateful,  and  malignant 
monster.  How  Christian  people  who  have  any  appreci- 
ation of  the  goodness  and  beauty  of  His  character  can  so 
debase  Him,  we  are  at  a  loss  to  understand.  We  can  en- 
tertain no  possible  idea,  in  relation  to  God,  other  than 
that  of  His  perfection.  Hence,  as  perfection  embraces  all 
goodness,  justice,  and  order,  and  as  man's  conception  of 
these  qualities  is  of  God's  creating,  it  follows  that  man's 
ideas  of  good  and  evil,  which  are  indissolubly  associated 
with  these  qualities,  are,  in  the  main,  in  accordance  with 
God's  own  teaching. 

All  the  creeds  and  theologies  of  the  Bible  and  the 
Churches  which  man's  conscience  rejects,  and  in  which  all 
the  faculties  of  his  mind  combined  fail  to  recognise  God's 
goodness,  must,  of  necessity,  be  untrue.  Shall  traditional 
authority  alone  reverse  all  this  ?  God  has  decreed  other- 
wise. Men  deceive  themselves  when  they  give  a  formal 
or  pretended  adherence  to  such  teachings.  They  will 
not  be  of  the  slightest  service  to  men,  either  here  or  here- 
after. Whenever  such  errors  cease  to  be  instilled  into 
the  pliant  minds  of  children,  and  others  who  are  not  ac- 
customed to  think  for  themselves,  then  will  they  be  con- 
signed to  oblivion  —  their  proper  place.  Then  will  the 
religion  which  is  an  integral  part  of  man,  and  which 
nature  stimulates  with  never-failing  effect,  be  left  unadul- 
terated with  such  unseemly  dross  as  the  theologians 
would  heap  upon  it. 

That  happiness  is  the  true  and  normal  condition  of  life, 
and  misery  the  exception,  is  evidenced  in  a  thousand 
ways.  All  animated  beings,  whether  rational  or  irrational, 
seek  it  intuitively.  As  a  rule  of  almost  universal  appli- 
cation, those  who  live  the  most  joyful,  buoyant,  and 
happy  lives,  live  the  longest.  Pleasurable  sensations 
also,  both  mental  and  physical,  not  only  attend  all  the 
duties  and  functions  of  life,  but  the  legitimate  exercise  of 
every  faculty  affords  its  own  peculiar  pleasure ;  pain  may 


94  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

sometimes  result ;  but  this  is  the  extraordinary,  and  not 
the  ordinary,  rule.  In  the  aggregate,  the  preponderance  is 
largely  in  favour  of  pleasure.  Pleasure  resulting  from  the 
performance  of  the  duties  of  life  evidently  springs  from  a 
double  source.  First,  it  is  a  spontaneous  emanation  from 
Divine  Goodness,  as  a  free-will  gift  to  His  creatures;  and 
secondly,  it  is  an  incentive  and  guide  to  the  requirements 
of  peace  and  self-preservation  and  to  the  practice  of 
benevolence,  love,  friendship,  and  all  other  kindly  im- 
pulses. 

The  happiness  that  man  realises  from  conscious  exist- 
ence may  rationally  be  taken  as  a  guarantee  that  it  is  his 
normal  condition ;  and  whatever  God  addresses  to  His 
reason  is  never  in  vain  or  without  a  beneficent  object. 
Man  has  implanted  within  him,  by  God,  a  religious  in- 
stinct or  tendency  to  glorify  Him.  To  live  an  innocent 
and  joyous  life  is  one  mode  of  thanking  God  for  existence. 
The  insects  that  sport  in  the  sunshine,  the  lambs  that 
gambol  in  the  fields,  the  birds  that  warble  their  merry  or 
plaintive  songs  in  the  trees,  and  the  children  in  their 
bright  and  gladsome  spirits  while  at  play,  all  thank  God 
for  their  existence  in  His  own  appointed  way.  With  re- 
gard to  these  last,  God  has  provided,  through  the  laws  of 
nature,  for  their  guidance  and  care  in  a  more  marked  man- 
ner ;  and  man,  who  has  come  to  riper  years  and  is  more 
under  the  control  of  reason,  may  well  learn  a  lesson  from 
them.  To  inculcate  the  idea  that  a  melancholy  spirit  and 
a  gloomy  walk  through  life  are  more  acceptable  to  God 
than  the  cheerful  heart  —  which  God  is  ever,  in  ten  thou- 
sand ways,  exhilarating — is  an  impediment  to  true  religion. 
God  intended  that  all  His  creatures  should  live  serene  and 
happy  lives.  This  is  pre-eminently  apparent  from  the 
allurements  so  lavishly  strewed  in  the  path  of  all  to  win 
them  back  from  gloom  and  sorrow  to  sunshine  and  glad- 
ness. Cheerfulness  begets  cheerfulness ;  pain  is  exhaustive, 
tends  to  its  own  cessation.  The  action  of  the  organs  in 


Happiness  of  this  Life  95 

the  production  of  pleasure  is  promotive  of  their  develop- 
ment and  increased  capacity.  The  same  cannot  be  said 
of  pain ;  therein  the  reverse  is  the  rule.  Pleasure  tends 
to  its  own  augmentation  and  perpetuity.  Pain  benumbs 
the  nerves,  and  works  its  own  diminution  or  extinc- 
tion. Pain  gives  warning  of  impending  dangers  to  life  and 
happiness.  Pleasure  trains  to  religion  and  a  blissful  eter- 
nity. Such  is  the  voice  of  God  within  us,  and  such  is  the 
voice  of  nature  without  us.  But  let  it  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  happiness  here  spoken  of  is  that  which  is  con- 
sistent with  virtue,  when  indulged  in  to  a  rational  or  legiti- 
mate extent.  Man  may  run  into  excess  in  the  pursuit  of 
happiness,  or  he  may  indulge  in  vice  and  dissipation, 
thinking  happiness  lies  therein.  In  either  case,  the  result 
will  be  the  reverse  of  what  he  expects,  for  the  choicest 
blessings  of  life  are  only  precious  when  used  in  moderation. 
The  vital  and  unextinguishable  sense  of  right  and  wrong, 
the  love  of  good,  and  the  abhorrence  of  evil,  which  God 
has  implanted  in  man's  nature,  together  with  the  system 
of  perpetual  training  through  rewards  and  punishments 
which  He  has  established,  must  and  will  ultimately  pre- 
vail, and  ensure  the  ascendency  and  triumph  of  the  good, 
the  right,  and  the  true,  against  all  adverse  influences. 
Any  other  idea  than  this  is  an  imputation  against  the 
righteousness  of  God's  purpose  and  the  perfection  of  His 
work  in  creating  man.  When  man  brings  to  bear  all  the 
faculties  of  his  mind  —  reason  as  well  as  instinct  —  with  a 
view  of  ascertaining  God's  will  and  purposes  in  relation  to 
him,  and  his  proper  duty  to  God,  the  result  must  be  a 
more  satisfying,  a  sounder,  and  a  more  abiding  faith  in  the 
correctness  of  the  conclusions  arrived  at  than  can  possibly 
be  the  case  when  his  several  faculties  are  at  variance  on 
the  subject.  A  faith  predicated  on  the  infallibility  of  the 
Bible,  which  in  many  instances  runs  counter  to  itself,  is  not 
a  safe  guide  to  the  future  destiny  of  an  immortal  spirit, 
thirsting  for  enlarged  supplies  of  knowledge  and  holiness. 


96  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

What  is  termed  evil  in  connection  with  the  spiritual  or 
mental  part  of  man  results  from  his  not  being  perfect,  as 
God  is  perfect.  This  is  a  necessity.  The  creature  must 
be  lower  than  the  Creator.  But  the  inquiry  not  unnatu- 
rally presents  itself — why  has  God  placed  man  so  low? 
Why  has  He  allowed  so  much  seeming  evil  to  exist  that 
man's  happiness  and  well-being  are  apparently  put  in 
jeopardy  ?  Why  was  man  not  endowed,  at  his  creation, 
with  a  free  agency  so  limited  as  materially  to  diminish  the 
evil  that  now  attends  him  ?  These  are  questions  which 
are  altogether  beyond  our  present  understanding.  The 
proper  answer  is  known  only  to  God  ;  but  that  it  is  best 
to  be  as  it  is,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  It  is  inconceivable 
that  what  God  has  done  involves  other  than  the  greatest 
possible  good.  Man  is  to  comprehend  so  much  of  God's 
purposes  or  ways  as  is  necessary  for  his  good  and  hap- 
piness while  in  this  life  in  order  to  prepare  him  for  the 
next.  God's  infinite  perfections  guarantee  this  ;  and  His 
benevolent  purposes,  in  creating  man,  are  beyond  the 
possibility  of  question.  To  feel  such  trust  in  God  as  this 
acknowledgment  implies,  is  man's  highest  privilege  and 
his  indispensable  solace.  God  has  given  him  this  abiding 
confidence,  with  its  attendant  charm  of  reliance,  through 
such  means  as  admit  of  no  failure.  A  majority  of  man- 
kind may  never  proclaim  it  in  words ;  but  nevertheless 
each  and  every  human  being  that  ever  came  to  con- 
sciousness proclaims  it  in  thousands  of  ways  that  are 
pleasing  to  God.  The  multitudes  of  cheerful  spirits  and 
bright  and  happy  upturned  faces  that  we  meet  daily  ex- 
hibit a  never-flagging  hope  of  better  things  to  come. 
This  blessed  hope  is  an  emanation  from  God,  to  cheer  us 
onward  ;  and  it  betokens  more  and  more  precious  treas- 
ures in  store  for  us  hereafter.  For  God  can  neither  de- 
ceive, nor  engender  delusive  hopes,  to  cheat  or  mislead 
His  creatures. 

Time,  with  its  never-ceasing  tread,  hurries  man  to  his 


Man's  Trust  in  God  97 

unseen  destiny,  and  yet  he  trembles  not,  nor  fears.  Let 
all  bless  God  in  their  hearts  that  such  is  the  glorious  re- 
ward of  this  implicit  trust — founded  in  the  depths  of  each 
human  soul,  echoed  from  heart  to  heart,  and  chimed 
throughout  all  nature  by  its  every  aspect  and  mood.  It 
must  all  be  well  for  those  who  have  the  great,  the  just,  the 
perfect  God  for  their  pilot  and  sponsor  ;  and,  vast  as  is  the 
difference  between  the  perfection  of  God  and  the  frailty 
of  short-sighted  man,  yet  man  is  still  encouraged  to  make 
efforts — though  feeble  they  may  be — to  approach  God's 
goodness  and  knowledge,  and  to  start  on  the  high  career 
of  assimilating  himself  to  God's  perfection.  He  finds 
that  at  each  step  he  gains  new  accessions  of  strength, 
brighter  light,  and  stronger  aspirations  and  impulses  to 
press  onward.  This  encouragement  and  this  help  come 
from  Him  who  knows  the  vastness  of  the  object  aimed  at, 
the  means  to  be  used,  and  the  degree  of  success  that  awaits 
the  seemingly  futile  effort.  These  conceptions  open  to 
our  view  a  prospect  of  stupendous  magnificence  and  glory. 
They  show  that  it  is  in  reserve  for  man  to  progress  through 
countless  ages,  adding  knowledge  to  knowledge,  and  ex- 
cellence to  excellence,  and  to  be  ever  approaching  nearer 
and  nearer  to  God's  perfect  holiness.  They  intimate  that 
man  is  permitted  to  be  an  active  and  free  agent,  under 
God's  supervision,  in  contributing  to  his  own  advance- 
ment and  the  carrying  out  of  God's  benign  purposes. 
May  not  this  view,  to  some  extent,  illustrate  the  wisdom 
of  God  in  placing  man  so  low,  and  with  such  a  glorious 
career  before  him  ?  May  not  the  sum  total  of  man's  happi- 
ness be  greater  as  he  is  ever  emerging  from  a  dimmer  to  a 
brighter  light, — from  one  stage  of  happiness  to  another 
still  higher, — ever  advancing  in  his  aims  and  longings  for 
an  existence  far  above  and  superior  to  this,  where  he  will 
be  blessed  with  an  increased  knowledge  of  the  mysteries 
of  creation  and  God's  wondrous  ways  ?  Does  not  this  ac- 
cord with  what  we  know  of  our  own  natures  and  expe- 


98  One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

rience  here?  Is  not  our  appreciation  of  the  things  around 
us  assisted  by  contrast?  Are  not  our  very  pleasures 
heightened  by  expectation  ?  Each  aim  we  have  accom- 
plished begets  higher  aims,  nobler  purposes,  and  increased 
energies,  if  we  are  but  true  to  ourselves  and  our  innate 
promptings  and  inspirations.  Each  and  every  gloomy, 
dark  foreboding  that  lies  in  the  path  of  life  will  ultimately, 
under  God's  inscrutable  providence,  be  made  subservient 
to  our  welfare  and  happiness.  This  is  constantly  being 
illustrated  during  our  brief  sojourn  on  earth  ;  and  to  an  ex- 
tent and  in  ways  so  mysterious  and  unlooked-for  that  the 
evidence  of  our  senses  leads  us  to  the  same  conclusions  as 
does  faith,  based  upon  God's  wisdom,  goodness,  and  just- 
ice, and  manifested  throughout  all  His  works.  God  seems 
to  take  delight  in  making  darkness  available  and  subserv- 
ient to  the  appreciation  of  the  splendour  of  His  works, 
and  to  a  reverence  and  worship  of  Himself.  The  high 
sense  of  beauty  and  the  pious  emotions  that  spring  up 
within  us  on  viewing  the  countless  stars  spangling  the 
firmament  would  be  lost  to  us,  but  from  being  con- 
trasted with  the  darkness  of  the  night. — Viewed  from  the 
shaded  side  of  earth  and  of  life,  the  true  glory  of  heaven 
is  better  seen,  and  the  value  of  God's  goodness  and  wis- 
dom is  more  appreciated. 

That  species  of  evil  which  is  denominated  pain,  and 
which  relates  to  the  physical,  or  material  part  of  man,  is 
unmistakably  ordained  of  God  for  man's  ultimate  good. 
Matter,  unlike  the  mind  or  spirit  of  man,  is  destined  to 
dissolution  and  to  a  return  to  dust.  Man,  by  his  intui- 
tions and  by  the  other  faculties  of  his  mind,  desires  and 
is  led  to  the  preservation  of  the  body  to  the  fullest  extent 
practicable.  Without  the  instrumentality  of  pain,  man 
would  not  be  able  to  do  his  body  the  good  offices  and  serv- 
ices which  he  does  now,  and  which  are  indispensable  to 
the  continuation  of  his  species,  even  for  but  a  very  brief 
space  of  time.  Each  and  every  sensation  of  bodily  pain 


Pain — A  Blessing  99 

is  a  warning  that  the  welfare  of  the  body  is  endangered 
and  requires  the  good  offices  of  its  co-partner — the  intel- 
lect— in  its  behalf.  This  monitor,  pain,  therefore,  of  all 
others,  is  the  one  most  likely  to  be  recognised  and  obeyed  ; 
and,  in  general,  as  the  danger  is  more  imminent,  so  is  the 
monitor  more  persistent  in  his  demands  for  an  immediate 
attention  to  his  warnings.  As  a  general  rule,  whatever 
pertains  to  the  health,  vigour,  and  preservation  of  the  body 
is  attended  with  more  or  less  pleasure  ;  while  whatever 
tends  to  its  destruction  is  painful.  We  not  only,  there- 
fore, have  a  sleepless  sentinel  on  duty,  to  proclaim  ap- 
proaching danger  ;  we  have  premiums  offered  for  attending 
to  the  legitimate  wants  of  our  own  bodies,  and  for  striving 
to  promote  our  own  happiness.  How  beautifully  and  forci- 
bly does  this  illustrate  God's  benevolence  and  more  than 
fatherly  care  over  us !  The  contemplation  of  it  adds  con- 
firmation to  confirmation  and  faith  to  faith — if  such  a 
thing  be  possible — that  man's  greatest  ultimate  good  is 
perfectly  consistent  with  his  seemingly  lowly  and  appar- 
ently unfortunate  condition  here,  moral  and  physical.  It 
is  an  unmistakable  evidence  that  God's  consummate  wis- 
dom can  bring  beauty  out  of  seeming  uncomeliness,  and 
clear  up  and  disperse  all  the  apparent  gloom  and  imperfec- 
tion, in  His  infinite  perfection  and  brightness. 

In  the  present  world,  man — so  far  as  his  body  is  con- 
cerned— is  subject  to  casualty  and  the  destructive  powers 
of  nature,  equally  with  the  lower  animals.  But  as  this 
life  is  only  the  beginning  of  an  existence  that  will  never 
end,  and  is  under  the  Divine  guidance,  one  can  but  have 
faith  that  it  matters  little  at  what  period  of  time  the 
transit  to  the  higher  life  takes  place.  If  it  were  import- 
ant, life  would  not  have  been  subject  to  the  numerous 
contingencies  that  now  beset  it.  And  yet  the  teaching  of 
God  through  our  instincts  is  to  cling  to  life  while  we  may, 
leaving  the  time  of  our  departure  to  casualties  beyond  our 
control.  In  reflecting  upon  this,  how  comforting  it  is  to 


ioo         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

know  that  we  are  the  objects  of  God's  goodness  and  care  ! 
We  see  but  the  threshold  of  our  destined  existence.  We 
have  but  to  strive  unceasingly,  and  never  to  weary  in 
well-doing,  confidently  leaving  the  issue  to  God. 

But  this  subject  of  our  existence  here  and  hereafter,  and 
of  the  connection  between  the  two  periods,  may  well  bear 
to  be  further  contemplated.  This  life,  then,  and  this 
earth  are  but  the  time  and  place,  the  when  and  where, 
each  human  soul  embarks  for  eternity.  The  longest  life 
is  as  but  a  moment  of  time  in  comparison  with  the  soul's 
duration.  The  earth  is  but  the  stage  whereon  each  hu- 
man soul,  among  the  myriads  that  are  launched  into 
eternity,  is  moulded,  and — like  the  person — individually 
endowed  with  an  identity  peculiar  to  itself  and  resem- 
bling none  other  precisely.  The  belief  that  our  individual- 
ity and  identity  in  this  world  shall  be  preserved  to  us  in 
the  world  to  come — that  we  shall  connect  the  conscious- 
ness of  ourselves  beyond  the  grave  with  that  of  ourselves 
here,  and  be  so  recognisable  by  others — is  corroborated 
by  a  fact  in  our  human  experience  that  cannot  be  gain- 
said. Millions  upon  millions  of  inhabitants  come  and 
go  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  ;  and  yet  no  two  among 
them  bear  such  close  resemblance  as  to  prevent  intimate 
acquaintances  singling  them  out  from  all  others.  And  as 
with  the  body,  so  with  the  soul.  We  none  of  us  have  an 
exact  spiritual  counterpart — a  fact  that  is  obvious  to  all 
students  of  the  inner  man,  though  not  palpable  at  a  mo- 
ment's glance,  as  is  the  corporeal  divergence.  Now  this 
being  the  case, — the  extreme  difference  between  the  most 
dissimilar  persons  being  so  small  that  they  may  be  classed 
as  a  whole,  and  yet  so  distinctly  marked  that  each  stands 
out  as  it  were  alone, — is  it  possible  not  to  see  herein  a  pur- 
posed design  of  God  ?  And  to  what  purpose  can  this 
point,  more  rational  and  more  in  accordance  with  His  per- 
fect plans  than  that  the  probation  intended  to  lead  man 
heavenward,  and  barely  dawning  here  on  the  longest- 


Man's  Individuality  Hereafter         101 

lived,  shall  continue  when  we  go  hence,  through  what 
is  our  morning,  up  to  the  splendour  of  an  everlasting 
day  ?  The  more  we  contemplate  God's  wisdom  and  the 
harmonious  workings  of  His  systems,  the  more  are  we 
confirmed  in  this  view.  It  is  at  least  more  probable  that 
God  will  give  the  being  whom  He  Himself  created  an 
opportunity  of  learning  to  comprehend  His  mysteries,  and 
of  rendering  Him  homage,  than  that,  after  a  mere  com- 
parative spasm  of  existence,  man  is  at  once  promoted  to  a 
region  of  eternal  bliss,  or  plunged  into  everlasting  torment. 
That  this  cannot  be  so  and  be  consistent  with  God's  just- 
ice, is  the  more  manifest  when  we  remember  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  human  race  have  their  sojourn  upon  earth 
curtailed — by  causes  beyond  their  own  control — to  the 
hundredth  part  of  that  of  others,  and  that  surrounding 
circumstances  must  often  alone  determine  man's  progress 
towards  the  heaven  or  the  hell  which  the  theologians 
flaunt  before  him.  We  know  that  these  same  churchmen 
have  great  difficulty  in  reconciling  this,  their  peculiar 
phase  of  God's  character,  with  the  other  attributes  wherein 
they  clothe  Him.  The  true  solution  of  this  whole  diffi- 
culty is  to  clear  away  church  theology  and  substitute  in 
its 'place  a  wholesome  belief  that  God  has  assigned  etern- 
ity for  the  endless  education,  and  as  the  mode  and  manner 
of  it  is  of  God's  ordaining,  who  shall  doubt  its  bringing  all 
men  to  supreme  bliss  in  God's  good  time  ? 

Since  no  man  can  be  wise,  as  God  is  wise,  and  since 
neither  human  reason  nor  experience  can  supply  the  de- 
ficiency in  working  out  his  destiny  under  his  free  agency, 
instinct  makes  up  for  what  he  lacks  in  other  respects.  But 
since  man,  as  now  constituted  and  endowed,  is  always  li- 
able to  deviate  from  right,  and  so  bring  more  or  less  mental 
or  bodily  pain  upon  himself  and  others,  some  might  say, 
why  not  have  prevented  the  possibility  of  evil — if  evil 
it  be — by  giving  man  such  instincts  as  would  have  made  it 
entirely  unnecessary  that  he  should  be  constituted  a  free 


102          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

and  consequently  an  accountable  agent  ?  But  will  any 
one  say  that  he  would  have  preferred  this  ?  Would  he 
not  rather  say  :  "  The  present  system  of  limited  agency 
is  far  more  satisfactory  to  me  ?  To  have  no  control  over 
my  destiny  annihilates  my  individuality.  Rather  let  me 
have  the  responsibility  which  attaches  to  free  agency,  than 
the  degradation  which  is  involved  in  not  having  any 
share  in  shaping  out  my  present  life  and  future  destiny. 
Rather  let  me,  under  the  influence  of  volition  and  by  ac- 
tions that  are  my  own,  enter  into  the  joys,  sympathies, 
and  griefs  of  life  as  it  is.  This  best  satisfies  my  nature 
and  the  cravings  of  my  spirit.  Let  me  be  loved  because 
of  the  peculiarity  and  personality  which  is  the  result 
of  my  own  volition  and  acts ;  and  let  me  love  those  whom 
I  may  love  because  they  have  had  a  share  in  the  making 
up  of  their  own  peculiar  personality.  In  this  is  the  crown- 
ing joy  of  life." 

May  not  the  crowning  joys  of  Eternity  be  considered  in 
a  somewhat  similar  light  ?  May  not  influences  in  a  meas- 
ure akin  to  this  ultimately  prevail  in  perfecting  man's 
love  of  his  Maker  ?  Intuition — as  we  have  frequent  occa- 
sion to  remark — renders  it  imperative  that  man  should 
acknowledge  a  God  above  him.  So  far,  there  is  no  exer- 
cise of  free  will.  It  is  only  an  acquaintance  with  God's 
works  and  an  insight  into  His  dealings  with  man  that 
can  convert  this  knowledge  into  reverence.  Herein  the 
free  will  is  partially  exercised.  But  it  is  only  a  thorough 
appreciation  of  God's  infinite  loveliness  that  can  impart 
full  impulse  to  volition  and  transform  this  reverence  into 
love  that  is  worthy  of  its  object.  Nature  endues  a  mother 
with  affection  for  the  child  born  of  her — unattractive, 
ugly,  peevish,  troublesome  though  it  be.  This  is  instinct. 
How  much  more  intense  is  her  attachment  if  the  little 
being  be  supremely  fair  and  gifted  with  every  infantile 
grace !  This  is  love.  So  it  may  be  with  man  hereafter, 
when,  in  another  stage  of  his  existence,  the  marvellous 


Instinct  and  Reason  103 

beauty  of  God's  character  and  attributes  is  gradually  re- 
vealed to  him.  We  believe,  indeed,  that  God  has  prede- 
termined to  make  His  self-constituted  and  self-sustained 
perfection  apparent  to  all  men. 

We  believe  that  every  man  will  eventually  love  Him, 
and  strive  more  and  more  to  serve  Him — not  alone  from 
those  spontaneous  movements  within  that  impose  no  re- 
straint on  his  own  free  agency,  but  also  from  these  emo- 
tions that  emanate  from  his  own  free  will. 

The  instincts  of  man  which  have  reference  to  his  spir- 
itual or  divine  nature  are  the  primary  foundation  of 
man's  religion.  The  office  of  the  reasoning  faculties  is 
distinct  from  that  of  the  instincts.  The  instincts  are  more 
necessary,  because  they  are  ever  shedding  upon  our  on- 
ward path  a  light  indispensable  to  us  in  groping  our  way 
through  this  chequered  scene.  They  are  the  inexhaust- 
ible fountain  whence  is  drawn  every  noble  purpose,  every 
incentive  to  good,  kind,  and  generous  deeds.  Man,  as  a 
free  agent,  acting  under  and  by  force  of  his  reason  and  all 
his  faculties,  other  than  instinct,  would  stumble,  fall,  and 
utterly  fail  in  his  progress  through  life  ;  but  as  it  is,  he 
has  ever  with  him  a  safe  pilot — a  guardian  angel,  as  it 
were,  guided  by  a  higher  mind  than  his  own.  There  are 
certain  duties  that  God  has  assigned  to  man  during  his 
stewardship  here,  the  proper  performance  of  which  is  too 
important  and  too  difficult  of  understanding  to  be  en- 
trusted to  man's  reasoning  faculties  alone,  even  when  of 
the  highest  order  and  fully  matured,  much  less  when  the 
reverse  is  the  case.  Instinct  is  indispensable  to  the  wel- 
fare both  of  the  body  and  soul.  It  is  given  by  God  to 
ensure  that,  while  man  is  to  a  certain  extent  entrusted 
with  working  out  his  own  destiny,  God's  benevolent  pur- 
pose towards  him  shall  ultimately  prevail.  And  while 
there  is,  judging  from  observation  here,  a  vast  difference 
in  the  endowment  of  individuals  in  relation  to  all  those 
faculties  of  the  mind  which  are  subject  to  cultivation  and 


102          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

and  consequently  an  accountable  agent  ?  But  will  any 
one  say  that  he  would  have  preferred  this  ?  Would  he 
not  rather  say :  "  The  present  system  of  limited  agency 
is  far  more  satisfactory  to  me  ?  To  have  no  control  over 
my  destiny  annihilates  my  individuality.  Rather  let  me 
have  the  responsibility  which  attaches  to  free  agency,  than 
the  degradation  which  is  involved  in  not  having  any 
share  in  shaping  out  my  present  life  and  future  destiny. 
Rather  let  me,  under  the  influence  of  volition  and  by  ac- 
tions that  are  my  own,  enter  into  the  joys,  sympathies, 
and  griefs  of  life  as  it  is.  This  best  satisfies  my  nature 
and  the  cravings  of  my  spirit.  Let  me  be  loved  because 
of  the  peculiarity  and  personality  which  is  the  result 
of  my  own  volition  and  acts ;  and  let  me  love  those  whom 
I  may  love  because  they  have  had  a  share  in  the  making 
up  of  their  own  peculiar  personality.  In  this  is  the  crown- 
ing joy  of  life." 

May  not  the  crowning  joys  of  Eternity  be  considered  in 
a  somewhat  similar  light  ?  May  not  influences  in  a  meas- 
ure akin  to  this  ultimately  prevail  in  perfecting  man's 
love  of  his  Maker  ?  Intuition — as  we  have  frequent  occa- 
sion to  remark — renders  it  imperative  that  man  should 
acknowledge  a  God  above  him.  So  far,  there  is  no  exer- 
cise of  free  will.  It  is  only  an  acquaintance  with  God's 
works  and  an  insight  into  His  dealings  with  man  that 
can  convert  this  knowledge  into  reverence.  Herein  the 
free  will  is  partially  exercised.  But  it  is  only  a  thorough 
appreciation  of  God's  infinite  loveliness  that  can  impart 
full  impulse  to  volition  and  transform  this  reverence  into 
love  that  is  worthy  of  its  object.  Nature  endues  a  mother 
with  affection  for  the  child  born  of  her — unattractive, 
ugly,  peevish,  troublesome  though  it  be.  This  is  instinct. 
How  much  more  intense  is  her  attachment  if  the  little 
being  be  supremely  fair  and  gifted  with  every  infantile 
grace !  This  is  love.  So  it  may  be  with  man  hereafter, 
when,  in  another  stage  of  his  existence,  the  marvellous 


Instinct  and  Reason  103 

beauty  of  God's  character  and  attributes  is  gradually  re- 
vealed to  him.  We  believe,  indeed,  that  God  has  prede- 
termined to  make  His  self-constituted  and  self-sustained 
perfection  apparent  to  all  men. 

We  believe  that  every  man  will  eventually  love  Him, 
and  strive  more  and  more  to  serve  Him — not  alone  from 
those  spontaneous  movements  within  that  impose  no  re- 
straint on  his  own  free  agency,  but  also  from  these  emo- 
tions that  emanate  from  his  own  free  will. 

The  instincts  of  man  which  have  reference  to  his  spir- 
itual or  divine  nature  are  the  primary  foundation  of 
man's  religion.  The  office  of  the  reasoning  faculties  is 
distinct  from  that  of  the  instincts.  The  instincts  are  more 
necessary,  because  they  are  ever  shedding  upon  our  on- 
ward path  a  light  indispensable  to  us  in  groping  our  way 
through  this  chequered  scene.  They  are  the  inexhaust- 
ible fountain  whence  is  drawn  every  noble  purpose,  every 
incentive  to  good,  kind,  and  generous  deeds.  Man,  as  a 
free  agent,  acting  under  and  by  force  of  his  reason  and  all 
his  faculties,  other  than  instinct,  would  stumble,  fall,  and 
utterly  fail  in  his  progress  through  life  ;  but  as  it  is,  he 
has  ever  with  him  a  safe  pilot — a  guardian  angel,  as  it 
were,  guided  by  a  higher  mind  than  his  own.  There  are 
certain  duties  that. God  has  assigned  to  man  during  his 
stewardship  here,  the  proper  performance  of  which  is  too 
important  and  too  difficult  of  understanding  to  be  en- 
trusted to  man's  reasoning  faculties  alone,  even  when  of 
the  highest  order  and  fully  matured,  much  less  when  the 
reverse  is  the  case.  Instinct  is  indispensable  to  the  wel- 
fare both  of  the  body  and  soul.  It  is  given  by  God  to 
ensure  that,  while  man  is  to  a  certain  extent  entrusted 
with  working  out  his  own  destiny,  God's  benevolent  pur- 
pose towards  him  shall  ultimately  prevail.  And  while 
there  is,  judging  from  observation  here,  a  vast  difference 
in  the  endowment  of  individuals  in  relation  to  all  those 
faculties  of  the  mind  which  are  subject  to  cultivation  and 


104         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

improvement,  there  is  little  or  no  difference  in  relation  to 
instinct — the  office  of  which  is  so  important  that  all 
God's  living  creatures  have  it,  in  ample  strength  and  in 
ample  time.  This  is  not  the  case  with  those  other  facul- 
ties called  mental.  These  are  developed,  in  process  of 
time,  according  to  our  advantages,  by  observation,  by  ex- 
perience, by  comparison,  and  by  study.  This  being  so, 
the  improvement  of  them  exhibits  itself  at  different 
periods  and  in  different  degrees  in  different  individuals. 
This  is  manifest  to  all  men.  We  all  recognise  it  in  this 
life,  however  it  may  be  in  the  next. 

Does  God  govern  mankind  entirely  by  laws  established 
at  the  first — coeval  with  the  creation  of  man ;  or  has  He 
subsequently,  and  from  time  to  time,  enacted  and  made 
operative  new  laws  to  meet  unforeseen  contingencies?  Is 
God  moved  from  day  to  day  and  from  hour  to  hour  by 
prayer,  or  otherwise,  to  reverse  or  modify  His  general  laws 
for  the  government  of  men,  by  means  of  what  are  termed 
special  providences?  If  men  are  to  be  held  accountable 
for  the  breach  of  God's  law,  justice  demands  that  the  law 
should  be  stable  and  sure,  not  vacillating  or  shifting,  the 
same  deed  being  right  to-day,  and  wrong  to-morrow,  and 
vice  versa;  otherwise,  man  is  without  a  reliable  rule  of 
conduct,  and  his  never-varying  instinct  and  innate  percep- 
tion of  right  and  wrong  have  no  parallel  in  the  laws  of 
God,  no  immovable  standard  of  moral  right  by  which  he 
can  constantly  direct  his  course. 

Now,  plain  and  undeniable  as  seem  the  conclusions  here 
suggested,  they  are  directly  in  the  face  of  those  of  Christian 
theology ;  they  cannot  both  be  true  ;  and  if  the  Christian 
theology  be  true,  then  God — contrary  to  Bible  phrase- 
ology—  is  a  Being  of  change;  and  this  makes  the  infer- 
ence irresistible  that  He  was  not  equal  to  adjusting  all 
things  aright  from  the  first,  but  only  after  trial,  observa- 
tion, and  second  thought.  If  this  view  of  God  is  to  be 
taken  as  glorifying  and  worshipping  Him,  we  not  only 


Supposed  Saviours  105 

fail  to  perceive  that  such  is  the  fact,  but  deem  such  view 
most  irreverent. 

With  a  view  to  bringing  the  light  to  be  derived  from 
history  to  bear  on  the  question  as  to  whether  God's  gov- 
ernment was  perfect  from  the  first,  or  required  subsequent 
radical  amendments  and  a  never-ending  round  of  adjust- 
ments called  special  providences,  by  way  of  testing  the 
rationale  of  what  is  termed  supernatural  revelation,  we 
will  state  a  supposed  example.  Let  us  say  that  five  per- 
sons have  appeared  upon  the  earth  at  various  periods,  but 
all  after  many  generations  of  men  had  lived  and  died 
thereon.  Each  of  these  persons  claimed  to  be  entrusted 
by  God  with  a  message  of  vital  importance  to  every 
member  of  the  human  family ;  the  character  and  import 
of  which  had  never  before  been  made  known  to  man. 
The  pretended  new  communication  from  God  was  to  the 
effect  that  every  individual  must  have  an  unwavering 
belief  that  a  certain  person,  who  was  then,  or  had  been,  or 
was  to  come,  upon  the  earth,  was  the  only  medium  through 
which  men  could  be  saved  ;  that  all  who  had  this  faith 
would  receive  eternal  happiness,  and  all  who  had  it  not, 
eternal  damnation.  Up  to  this  point,  each  of  these  five 
persons  delivered  similar  messages ;  but  here  they  di- 
verged. Each  now  personally,  or  by  followers,  was  de- 
clared to  be  designated  by  God  as  the  one  to  whom  the 
faith  in  question  must  be  given  in  order  to  obtain  salva- 
tion. Suppose  that  these  five  messengers  were  named 
respectively,  Christ,  Zoroaster,  Buddha,  Godama,  and 
Mohammed,  each  claiming  to  be  the  only  Saviour  of 
mankind. 

Now  this  supposed  case  furnishes  substantially  the  facts 
that  have  actually  taken  place  among  men ;  and  the  re- 
sult is  that  faith,  more  or  less  strong,  has  been  divided 
between  the  several  persons  named  as  Saviours.  The 
number  professing  faith  in  Jesus — or  living  in  so-called 
Christian  countries  —  comprises  about  one  third  of  the 


io6         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

inhabitants  of  the  globe.  This  being  the  case,  is  there 
any  tenable  reason  why  the  Christian  theology  should  be 
held  right,  and  all  the  others  wrong  ?  We  deem  them  all 
alike  fallacious.  God  sends  His  laws  for  the  government 
of  mankind  into  the  world  by  each  and  every  inhabitant 
thereof  —  each  being  his  own  messenger;  and  as  the  law 
enjoined  by  this  message  is  of  the  same  import  at  all 
times  and  in  all  places,  this  message  demands  our  faith  in 
preference  to  any  other. 

Again  :  if  a  man  claims  that  he  was  the  first  person  to 
whom  God  made  known  a  new  law,  to  be  added  to  His 
former  laws  for  the  government  of  mankind  —  which  had 
answered  their  purpose  for  generation  after  generation  of 
men,  but  which  now  required  amendment  and  addition, — 
we  cannot  credit  him.  We  have  unbounded  and  unex- 
tinguishable  faith  that  God  is  perfect  and  unchangeable, 
and  that  His  laws  to  govern  man  must  have  been  perfect 
and  all-sufficient  from  the  first.  We  cannot  put  faith  in 
any  one  who  pretends  that  God  added  to  His  original 
code  a  vital  and  imperative  law  for  man's  government, 
long  after  many  men  had  lived  and  died.  None,  we  say, 
who  hold  that  God  is  perfect  and  unchangeable,  can  pos- 
sibly credit  such  a  story ;  neither  can  they  reconcile  it  to 
their  views  that  God,  who  makes  sure  that  all  His  ways 
are  perfect,  should  confide  to  a  single  individual  an  all-im- 
portant message  intended  for  the  benefit  of  each  one  of 
the  human  race. 

To  those  whose  conception  of  God  is  no  higher  than 
one  involving  additional  enactments,  alterations,  and  espe- 
cial providences,  as  unforeseen  occasions  may  require  for 
the  government  of  the  world,  another  difficulty  presents 
itself.  If,  according  to  their  theory,  it  become  necessary 
for  God  to  bring  forward  the  especial  messenger,  for 
the  regulation  of  man's  relations  with  his  Maker ;  and  if 
two  persons  appear  simultaneously,  each  claiming  to  be 
from  God,  both  giving  contradictory  versions  of  the 


Supposed  Saviours  107 

claimed  will  of  God  —  how,  under  these  circumstances,  are 
the  advocates  for  the  supernatural  to  determine  which  is 
the  true  and  which  the  lying  messenger?  The  Bible  itself 
certainly  will  not  give  them  much  aid  in  distinguishing 
the  false  from  the  true,  if  we  may  judge  by  its  many  warn- 
ings. Ahab  consulted  four  hundred  prophets  ;  they  were 
all  impostors,  with  the  exception  of  Micaiah.  "  The  pro- 
phets," saith  the  Lord  to  Jeremiah,  "  prophesy  lies  in  my 
name  ;  I  sent  them  not,  neither  have  I  commanded  them  ; 
neither  spake  I  unto  them :  they  prophesy  unto  you  a 
false  vision  and  divination,  and  a  thing  of  nought,  and  the 
deceit  of  their  heart  "  ;  and  elsewhere,  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  hearken  not  unto  the  words  of  the  prophets 
that  prophesy  unto  you  ;  they  make  you  vain  ;  they  speak 
a  vision  of  their  own  heart,  and  not  out  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Lord."  Jesus  himself  did  not  implicitly  rely  upon 
His  own  universal  recognition.  "  Then,"  said  he,  "  if  any 
man  shall  say  unto  you,  Lo,  here  is  Christ,  or  there,  be- 
lieve it  not.  For  there  shall  arise  false  Christs  and  false 
prophets,  and  shall  shew  great  signs  and  wonders ;  inso- 
much that,  if  it  were  possible,  they  shall  deceive  the  very 
elect." 

Christian  theology,  then,  has  no  other  foundation  than 
the  conflicting  claims  of  numerous  prophets  and  miracle- 
workers  ;  a  majority  of  whom,  according  to  Bible  narrat- 
ive, are  false.  We  fail  to  perceive  that  any  one  of  them 
has  more  claims  to  be  credited  than  another ;  and  must 
consequently  conclude  that  they  are  all  alike  incredible. 

Saying  we  believe  in  Jesus  is  unintelligible,  unless  we 
specify  the  nature  of  our  belief,  inasmuch  as  various  de- 
scriptions of  belief  have  been  connected  with  the  name  of 
Jesus.  During  the  few  years  of  his  public  career,  he  as- 
sumed three  distinct  positions  before  the  world,  while 
during  the  first  half-century  after  his  death,  yet  another 
and  totally  distinct  position  was  assigned  to  him. 

Belief  in  Jesus  has  therefore  been  construed  to  signify 


io8          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

— in  the  first  place,  that  he  was  a  teacher  of  the  way  to 
the  inheritance  of  eternal  life ;  secondly,  that  he  was  the 
Messiah,  the  person  designated  by  the  prophets  to  rule 
over  the  Jews  for  ever  on  earth  ;  thirdly,  that  he  was  de- 
stined to  reign  for  ever  over  a  new  world — after  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  old  one — to  be  inhabited  by  the  righteous  only  ; 
fourthly  and  lastly,  that  he  is  co-equal  with  God,  and  the 
Saviour  of  all  men  who  entertain  this  belief. 

Now  these  several  offices — three  of  which  were  assumed 
by  Jesus,  while  the  fourth  was  thrust  upon  him  after  his 
death — differed  so  essentially  from  each  other,  as  to  render 
it  absolutely  impossible  that  they  could  all  have  been  ful- 
filled. Passing  by  Jesus'  first  and  unobjectionable  position 
— that  of  a  teacher  of  divine  truths,  or  in  other  words,  of 
natural  religion — we  ask,  how  could  he  reign  everlastingly 
as  King  of  the  Jews  on  the  earth  that  then  was,  and  yet 
reign  everlastingly  also  on  a  new  earth  which  he  was  to 
build  up  from  the  ashes  of  the  old  one  ?  It  is  just  as  plain 
that  Jesus  has  never  ruled  here  in  any  Kingship  as  that 
the  earth  never  has  been  destroyed  according  to  his  pre- 
diction. What  he  predicted  therefore,  with  so  much 
eloquent  earnestness,  is  both  impossible  according  to 
reason,  and  flatly  contradicted  by  facts.  Adding  to  this 
the  fourth  office  thrust  upon  Jesus,  the  puzzle  is  complete. 
Where  shall  we  turn  for  a  reliable  guide  to  true  belief? 
We  say  that  men  should  turn  to  the  One  God,  Jehovah. 
He  points  unmistakably  to  the  first  and  only  religion, 
which  Jesus  taught  with  signal  effect,  and  which  embraced 
his  true  mission,  and  the  only  rational  portion  of  his 
course. 

All  the  early  followers  of  Jesus  clung  to  the  first  and 
third  of  the  beliefs  enumerated  above,  and  confidently 
looked  for  the  destruction  of  the  earth  that  was  to  be  re- 
placed by  a  new  one,  and  for  Jesus'  second  coming  to 
rule  over  them  for  ever  thereupon.  They  clung  to  this 
belief  and  this  expectation  up  to  and  long  after  the  time 


Jesus'  Second  Coming  109 

predicted  by  Jesus  for  its  fulfilment.  In  fact,  the  expecta- 
tion of  a  coming  millennium,  so-called,  upon  earth,  over 
which  Jesus  is  to  rule  for  ever,  has  not  yet  entirely  died 
out.  The  belief  and  expectation  no  doubt  originated  in 
the  declarations  of  Jesus  himself,  which  assumed  a  very 
definite  form,  as  he  drew  toward  the  close  of  his  career. 
"  For,"  said  he,  "  as  the  lightning  cometh  out  of  the  east, 
and  shineth  even  unto  the  west ;  so  shall  also  the  coming 
of  the  Son  of  man  be.  For  wheresoever  the  carcass  is, 
there  will  the  eagles  be  gathered  together.  Immediately 
after  the  tribulation  of  those  days  shall  the  sun  be  dark- 
ened, and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars 
shall  fall  from  Heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the  heavens 
shall  be  shaken.  And  then  shall  appear  the  sign  of  the 
Son  of  man  in  Heaven  ;  and  then  shall  all  the  tribes  of  the 
earth  mourn,  and  they  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  coming 
in  the  clouds  of  Heaven  with  power  and  great  glory.  And 
he  shall  send  his  angels  with  a  great  sound  of  a  trumpet ; 
and  they  shall  gather  together  his  elect  from  the  four 
winds,  from  one  end  of  Heaven  to  the  other.  Now  learn 
a  parable  of  the  fig-tree  :  When  his  branch  is  yet  tender, 
and  putteth  forth  leaves,  ye  know  that  summer  is  nigh. 
So,  likewise,  ye,  when  ye  shall  see  all  these  things,  know 
that  it  is  near,  even  at  the  doors.  Verily,  I  say  unto  you, 
This  generation  shall  not  pass  till  all  these  things  be  ful- 
filled. Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  words 
shall  not  pass  away." 

These  citations  embody  Jesus'  reply  to  the  question  of 
his  disciples :  **  Tell  us,  when  shall  these  things  be  ?  and 
what  shall  be  the  sign  of  thy  coming,  and  of  the  end  of 
the  world."  Jesus,  moreover,  elsewhere  likened  his  com- 
ing Kingdom  of  Heaven  to  a  net  which  is  made  instru- 
mental in  dividing  the  godly  from  the  ungodly.  Some 
further  light  is  also  thrown  upon  the  literal  signification 
of  Jesus'  announcement  by  Peter's  words  in  his  second 
Epistle  :  u  But  the  day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief  in 


no         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

the  night ;  in  the  which  the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with 
a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent 
heat ;  the  earth  also,  and  the  works  that  are  therein,  shall 
be  burned  up.  .  .  .  Nevertheless,  we,  according  to 
his  promise,  look  for  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness." 

With  reference  to  the  expected  destruction  and  renova- 
tion of  the  earth,  Mr.  Lecky,  in  his  History  of  European 
Morals,  has  a  comprehensive  footnote :  "  The  belief/' 
says  he,  "that  the  world  was  just  about  to  end,  was,  as  is 
well  known,  very  general  among  the  early  Christians,  and 
greatly  affected  their  lives.  It  appears  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and,  very  clearly,  in  the  epistle  ascribed  to  Barna- 
bas in  the  first  century.  The  persecutions  of  the  second 
and  third  centuries  revived  it,  and  both  Tertullian  and 
Cyprian  strongly  assert  it.  With  the  triumph  of  Christ- 
ianity, the  apprehension  for  a  time  subsided  ;  but  it  reap- 
peared with  great  force  when  the  dissolution  of  the  empire 
was  manifestly  impending,  when  it  was  accomplished, 
and  in  the  prolonged  anarchy  and  suffering  that  ensued. 
Gregory  of  Tours,  writing  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixth 
century,  speaks  of  it  as  very  prevalent ;  and  St.  Gregory 
the  Great,  about  the  same  time,  constantly  expresses  it. 
The  panic  that  filled  Europe  at  the  end  of  the  tenth  cent- 
ury has  been  often  described."  The  fulfilment  of  these 
predictions  of  Jesus  and  his  disciples  in  relation  to  the 
destruction  of  the  world  by  fire,  like  those  in  respect  to 
his  second  coming,  has  been  so  long  delayed  beyond  the 
expected  time  that  the  theologians  have  been  obliged 
either  to  abandon  them  as  fallacious,  or  to  assign  to  them 
a  meaning  totally  different  from  the  obvious  and  origin- 
ally received  one,  deduced  from  the  plain  meaning  of 
words.  The  new  world  is  still  to  be  created,  just  as  Jesus' 
promised  throne  of  David  remains  still  unoccupied. 

The  great  craving  of  man's  spirit  is  for  the  discovery 
of  truth.  To  gain  an  insight  into  the  mysteries  of  the 


Man's  Craving  for  Truth  in 

universe  gives  other  and  higher  delight  than  merely  to 
admire  its  beauties.  The  first  faint  symptoms  of  this 
passion — for  such  it  is — are  exhibited  in  early  childhood. 
The  inquisitive  boy  either  cuts  the  bellows,  to  see  where 
the  wind  comes  from,  or  takes  a  watch  to  pieces,  to  find 
what  makes  it  tick.  During  adolescence  and  maturity, 
the  zest  for  knowledge  increases  in  intensity  with  the 
discovery  of  each  new  truth ;  and  as  truths  are  ascer- 
tained, and  multiply,  and  their  wonderful  harmony  with 
each  other  is  observed,  the  dawning  of  light  within  the 
soul  gains  strength  and  becomes  more  luminous. 

The  poetical  part  of  man's  nature  has  its  foundation 
in  truth  and  harmony — the  great  characteristics  of  God. 
The  poetic  instinct  is  the  legitimate  offspring  of  the  in- 
tuitions that  apply  to  man's  higher  nature  and  destiny  ; 
and  these,  in  conjunction  with  his  other  faculties,  form 
the  ladder,  as  it  were,  upon  which  he  ascends  heaven- 
ward. When  the  spirit  soars  into  the  higher  regions  of 
imagination,  under  the  excitement  of  a  sense  of  the  beau- 
tiful, harmonious,  and  truthful,  it  is  but  God's  mode  of 
giving  man  a  ray  of  that  sublime  light  which  shines 
brighter  and  brighter  as  he  presses  forward  in  the  right 
direction  —  an  indication  that  the  soul  is  capable  of  a 
more  exalted  state  of  existence  and  happiness  than  it  has 
yet  realised,  or  than  the  things  of  this  earth  can  reveal. 
It  is  the  whispering  of  God,  to  allure  man  to  the  sure 
path  that  leads  to  his  more  congenial  abode — to  his  true 
destiny.  This  perception  and  natural  leaning,  by  and 
through  our  instincts,  to  the  well-being  and  happiness  of 
ourselves  and  our  species,  is  analogous  to  that  which 
incites  the  bird  of  passage  to  mount  upon  its  wings,  and 
speed  its  way  from  colder  regions  to  the  warmer  climes 
of  the  South,  there  to  pass  the  winter  season,  and  then 
again  to  return  to  the  North,  the  better  to  rear  its  young. 
The  still,  small  voice,  that  charms  the  bird  hither  and 
thither,  communicates  not  an  idle  tale ;  it  is  truth,  big 


ii2          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

with  utility,  involving  life  and  death.  The  bird  that  pours 
forth  its  tuneful  strains,  perched  upon  the  tree-top,  sings 
not  in  vain ;  in  Nature's  good  time,  his  mate,  the  harbin- 
ger of  love  and  gladness  and  fruitfulness,  will  come,  and 
God's  all-wise  and  benevolent  purposes  will  be  answered. 
And  so  of  that  chant  of  love  which  Nature  causes  to 
vibrate  in  the  virgin  and  unwedded  heart.  It  is  but  the 
budding  of  the  highest  bliss  that  earth  has  in  store  for 
humanity.  It  is  God's  mode  of  making  His  children  sub- 
servient to  the  accomplishment  of  His  great  ends.  All 
Nature  is  full  of  melody,  to  those  who  know  how  to  listen. 
Music,  sometimes  the  more  enchanting  for  being  dimly 
audible,  is  ever  attuning  the  emotional  soul  to  the  lovely 
and  the  sublime,  and  training  it  to  a  higher  and  higher 
estate.  Unwritten  poetry,  we  say,  pervades  all  nature. 
Man  is  attuned  to  its  harmony  and  its  inspiration.  The 
infinite  fancies  and  fond  imaginings  of  man  are  not  with- 
out an  actually  existing  object,  either  here  or  elsewhere ; 
neither  are  they  without  utility.  They  contribute  im- 
measurably to  the  charms  of  life.  They  foster  hope,  that 
blessed  boon  to  man.  They  stimulate  to  nobler  deeds, 
and  lead  to  loftier  aspirations.  Fiction  and  poetry,  which 
transport  and  thrill  the  soul  in  books,  do  but  portray 
some  truth  or  truths  recognised  already  as  existing  in 
nature.  If  not,  the  spirit  heedeth  not ;  the  charm  is 
wanting,  and  the  springs  of  life  go  still  unquickened. 
Poetry  may,  not  inaptly,  be  likened  to  the  flowers  that 
contain  the  embryo  of  luscious  fruit,  and  that  are  all  the 
sweeter  and  more  attractive  because  they  promise  some- 
thing more  valuable  than  the  present  sense  enjoys.  Not 
that  the  flowers  themselves  are  without  real  utility.  By 
their  fragrance  and  beauty,  they  furnish  a  feast  to  some 
of  the  organs  of  man,  no  less  than  does  the  fruit  to  others. 
There  is  no  quality  or  organ  of  man's  nature,  either  of 
body  or  mind,  that  is  devoid  of  utility.  No  such  anom- 
aly can  emanate  from  the  Deity.  Man's  body,  it  is  true, 


Yearnings  of  the  Human  Soul        113 

cannot  subsist  on  music,  but  music  furnishes  a  rich  feast  to 
his  higher  being.  It  can,  and  does,  feed  that  part  of  his 
nature,  wherewith  he  is  enabled  to  appreciate  and  enjoy 
the  harmony  of  God's  works.  As  truth  after  truth  is 
added  to  the  store  of  man's  knowledge  in  relation  to  God 
and  His  works,  the  more  and  deeper  is  he  impressed  with 
the  glory  of  the  Author  of  the  universe  and  the  wonderful 
harmony  and  accord  of  all  created  things. 

This  advance  in  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  God's 
greatness  and  goodness,  we  deem,  will  be  without  end. 
The  lower  animals  and  the  physical  part  of  man's  being 
find  the  means  of  satisfying  their  wants  and  cravings  in 
things  pertaining  to  earth.  Not  so  with  the  human  soul ; 
it  has  longings  not  satisfied  in  this  life,  qualities  and 
powers  for  the  enjoyment  of  a  nobler  and  higher  exist- 
ence, which  find  not  the  means  of  their  realisation  here. 
There  is  nothing  waste  and  nothing  meaningless  in  the 
feelings  and  faculties  wherewith  living  creatures  are  en- 
dowed. For  each  desire  there  is  a  corresponding  object; 
for  each  faculty  there  is  room  and  opportunity  for  exer- 
cise, either  in  the  present  life  or  in  futurity.  But  for  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  man's  endowments  would  not  be 
in  harmony  with  his  destiny.  He  would  be  an  exception 
to  God's  universal  order  and  fulness  of  all  things — an 
anomaly  in  nature  irreconcilable  with  the  known  and  only 
conceivable  attributes  and  ways  of  God. 

It  is  evident  from  the  widespread  and  extensive  practice 
of  using  idols  in  devotional  service,  that  it  proceeds  from 
some  strong,  legitimate  trait  in  human  nature.  All  the 
prominent  errors  of  man  so  proceed.  Among  the  power- 
ful propensities  which  God  has  given  to  man  is  a  restless 
desire  to  search  after,  and  penetrate  into,  the  wonderful 
mysteries  of  the  spiritual  and  physical  universe.  But  for 
this  thirst  for,  and  advancement  in,  and  acquaintance 
with  the  knowledge  and  ways  of  God,  man  would  fail  to 
prepare  himself  for  his  future  destiny  as  God  intended  he 


ii4          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

should.  Man,  in  his  eagerness  to  see  God,  climbs  the 
tree,  as  did  Zaccheus,  or  builds  a  tower  as  did  Nimrod. 
In  primitive  times  the  lowly  in  intellect  and  culture  en- 
deavoured to  portray  God,  the  incomprehensible,  by  the 
help  of  tangible  things ;  and  having  singled  out  a  figure 
or  symbol,  availed  themselves  of  it  as  giving  some  idea  of 
God.  They,  then,  through  such  a  symbol,  poured  out 
their  spontaneous  adoration  to  that  mysterious  Being, 
whose  wisdom,  through  His  works,  they  saw  pervading  all 
things,  yet  not  otherwise  visible  to  the  physical  eye. 
God,  however,  designed  man  for  development  and  ad- 
vancement, as  He  did  the  child  in  his  progress  from  in- 
fancy to  manhood.  The  appliances  and  helps  suited  to 
these  ends  for  one  age  and  stage  of  growth  are  unsuited 
to  a  more  advanced  one.  The  present  state  of  knowledge, 
cultivation,  and  intellectual  development  in  all  civilised 
nations  is  such  that  man  should  now  allow  nothing  to 
stand  in  the  way  between  his  own  spiritual  eye  and  the 
great  Spirit  which  fills  the  universe. 

There  is  no  room  or  occasion  for  a  second  or  third 
person  in  the  Godhead.  The  Spirit  of  God  pervades  the 
universe.  It  is  an  Infinite  Mind,  and  must,  of  necessity, 
be  a  unit.  What  God  wills  to  do,  and  what  God  executes, 
is  without  effort.  No  other  idea  is  consistent  with  In- 
finity. The  utility  or  possibility  of  there  being  two  or 
three  co-equal  infinite  Gods  is  as  incomprehensible  to 
man  as  that  there  can  be  two  or  three  infinite  divisions  of 
space ;  or  that  there  can  be  two  or  three  independent 
existences  of  time.  Yet  two,  and  even  three,  co-equal 
Gods  are  claimed  as  the  Rock  on  which  the  Christian 
Church  is  founded.  This  is  idolatry. 

The  Christian  Church  claims,  too,  the  infallibility  of 
the  Bible,  notwithstanding  irrefutable  evidence  to  the 
contrary,  and  thereby  again  sets  up  an  idol.  The  worship 
of  Jesus  and  the  Virgin  Mary  is  as  much  idolatry  as  is 
the  worship  of  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  stars,  and  other 


Belief  in  a  Supreme  Power  115 

objects  worshipped  by  what  are  called  idolatrous  nations. 
They  who  worship  God  through  these  material  objects, 
which  are  symbolical  of  the  true  light  emanating  from 
Him  who  is  infinite  and  ineffable  Light  itself,  are  much 
more  excusable,  in  view  of  the  greater  intelligence  claimed 
by  Christians  in  these  later  times. 

The  various  trains  of  thought  and  reasoning  which  lead 
men  from  a  consideration  of  the  natural  world  to  a  con- 
viction of  the  existence,  the  power,  the  providence  of  God, 
do  not  require,  for  the  most  part,  any  long  or  laboured 
deduction,  to  give  them  their  effect  on  the  mind.  The 
notion  of  such  supremacy  is  universal  and  innate.  In 
many  nations,  in  many  periods,  this  persuasion  has  been 
mixed  up  with  much  that  was  erroneous  and  perverse. 
But  the  opinions  of  the  intellect  or  the  fictions  of  the 
fancy  do  not  weaken  the  force  of  such  conviction.  The 
belief  in  a  Supreme  and  Presiding  Power  runs  through  all 
these  errors ;  and  while  the  perversions  are  manifestly  the 
work  of  caprice  and  illusion,  and  vanish  at  the  first  ray  of 
sober  enquiry,  the  belief  itself  is  substantial  and  consist- 
ent, and  grows  in  strength  upon  every  new  examination. 
It  is  an  assurance  that  the  mere  existence  of  a  law,  con- 
necting and  governing  any  class  of  phenomena,  implies 
a  Presiding  Intelligence  which  has  preconceived  and  estab- 
lished the  law.  We  cannot,  then,  represent  to  ourselves 
the  universe  governed  by  general  laws,  otherwise  than  by 
conceiving  an  intelligent  and  conscious  Deity,  by  whom 
any  such  laws  were  originally  contemplated,  established, 
and  applied. 

The  impression  which  thus  arises,  of  design  and  inten- 
tion exercised  in  the  formation  of  the  world,  or  of  the 
reality  of  a  Prime  Cause,  operates  on  men's  minds  so 
generally,  and  increases  so  constantly  on  every  additional 
examination  of  the  phenomena  of  the  universe,  that  we 
cannot  but  suppose  such  a  belief  to  have  a  deep  and  stable 
foundation.  Indeed,  science  shows  us,  far  more  clearly 


n6          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

than  the  conceptions  of  every-day  reason,  at  what  an  im- 
measurable distance  we  are  from  any  faculty  of  conceiving 
how  the  universe,  material  and  moral,  is  the  work  of  the 
Deity.  But  with  regard  to  the  material  world,  we  can 
at  least  go  so  far  as  this :  we  can  perceive  that  events 
are  brought  about,  not  by  insulated  interpositions  of 
Divine  power,  exerted  in  each  particular  case,  but  by  the 
establishment  of  general  laws.  This,  which  is  the  view 
of  the  universe  proper  to  science,  whose  office  it  is  to 
search  out  these  laws,  is  also  the  view  which,  throughout 
this  work,  we  have  endeavoured  to  keep  present  to  the 
mind  of  the  reader.  We  have  attempted  to  show  that  it 
combines  itself  most  readily  and  harmoniously  with  the 
doctrines  of  Natural  Religion,  that  the  arguments  for 
those  doctrines  are  strengthened,  the  difficulties  which 
affect  them  removed,  by  keeping  it  steadily  before  us. 
We  conceive,  therefore,  that  the  religious  philosopher  will 
do  well  to  bear  this  conception  in  his  mind.  God  is  the 
Author  and  Governor  of  the  universe,  through  the  laws 
which  He  has  given  to  its  parts,  the  properties  which  He 
has  impressed  upon  its  constituent  elements ;  these  laws 
and  properties  are,  as  we  have  already  said,  the  instru- 
ments with  which  He  works  ;  the  institution  of  such  laws, 
the  selection  of  the  quantities  which  they  involve,  their 
combination  and  application,  are  the  modes  in  which  He 
exerts  and  manifests  His  power,  His  wisdom,  and  His 
goodness ;  through  these  attributes,  thus  exercised,  the 
Creator  of  all  shapes,  moves,  sustains,  and  guides  the 
visible  creation. 

How  strongly  then  does  science  represent  God  to  us  as 
incomprehensible !  His  attributes  as  unfathomable  !  His 
power,  His  wisdom,  His  goodness,  appear  in  each  of  the 
provinces  of  nature  which  are  thus  brought  before  us ; 
and  in  each,  the  more  we  study  them  the  more  impress- 
ive, the  more  admirable  do  they  appear.  When  then  we 
find  these  qualities  manifested  in  each  of  so  many  sue- 


God's  Laws  117 

cessive  ways,  and  each  manifestation  rising  above  the 
preceding  by  unknown  degrees,  and  through  a  progression 
of  unknown  extent,  what  other  language  can  we  use 
concerning  such  attributes,  than  that  they  are  infinite? 
What  mode  of  expression  can  the  most  cautious  philo- 
sophy suggest,  other  than  that  He,  whom  we  thus  en- 
deavour to  approach,  is  infinitely  wise,  powerful,  and  good  ? 

But  with  sense  and  consciousness,  the  history  of  liv- 
ing things  only  begins.  They  have  instincts,  affections, 
passions,  will.  How  entirely  lost  and  bewildered  do  we 
find  ourselves,  when  we  endeavour  to  conceive  these 
faculties  communicated  by  means  of  general  laws  !  Yet 
they  are  so  communicated  from  God,  and  of  such  laws 
He  is  the  Law-giver.  At  what  an  immeasurable  interval 
is  He  thus  placed  above  everything  which  the  creation  of 
the  inanimate  world  alone  would  imply ;  and  how  far 
must  He  transcend  all  ideas  founded  on  such  laws  as  we 
find  there!  But  we  have  still  to  go  farther,  and  far 
higher.  The  world  of  reason  and  of  morality  is  a  part  of 
the  same  creation  as  the  world  of  matter  and  of  sense. 
The  will  of  man  is  swayed  by  rational  motives  ;  its  work- 
ings are  inevitably  compared  with  a  rule  of  action  ;  he  has 
a  conscience  which  speaks  of  right  and  wrong.  These  are 
laws  of  man's  nature  no  less  than  the  laws  of  his  material 
existence,  or  his  animal  impulses. 

All  the  laws  which  govern  the  moral  world  are  expres- 
sions of  the  thought  and  intentions  of  our  Supreme  Ruler 
in  relation  to  man.  All  the  contrivances  for  moral  no 
less  than  for  physical  good ;  for  the  peace  of  mind  and 
other  rewards  of  virtue,  for  the  elevation  and  purification 
of  individual  character;  for  the  civilisation  and  refine- 
ment of  States,  their  advancement  in  intellect  and  virtue  ; 
for  the  diffusion  of  good  and  the  repression  of  evil ;  all  the 
blessings  that  wait  on  perseverance  and  energy  in  a  good 
cause;  on  unquenchable  love  of  mankind,  and  uncon- 
querable devotedness  to  truth  ;  on  purity  and  self-denial ; 


n8          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

on  faith,  hope,  and  charity — all  these  things  are  indica- 
tions of  the  will  and  future  intentions  of  that  God  of 
whom  we  have  endeavoured  to  track  the  footsteps  upon 
earth,  and  to  show  His  handiwork  in  the  heavens.  "  This 
God  is  our  God,  for  ever  and  ever."  And  if,  in  endeavour- 
ing to  trace  the  plan  of  the  vast  labyrinth  of  laws  by 
which  the  universe  is  governed,  we  are  sometimes  lost 
and  bewildered,  and  can  scarcely,  or  not  at  all,  discern  the 
lines  by  which  sorrow  and  vice  and  injustice  from  man 
to  man  fall  in  with  a  scheme  directed  to  the  strictest 
right  and  greatest  good,  we  yet  find  no  room  to  faint  or 
falter,  knowing  that  these  are  the  darkest  and  most 
tangled  recesses  of  our  knowledge  ;  that  into  them  science 
has  as  yet  cast  no  ray  of  light ;  that  in  them  reason  has 
as  yet  caught  sight  of  no  general  law  by  which  we  may 
securely  hold :  while,  in  those  regions  where  we  can  see 
clearly ;  where  science  has  thrown  her  strongest  illumina- 
tion upon  the  scheme  of  creation  ;  where  we  have  had 
displayed  to  us  the  general  laws  which  give  rise  to  all  the 
multifarious  variety  of  particular  facts,  we  find  all  full 
of  wisdom  and  harmony  and  beauty ;  and  all  this  wise 
selection  of  means,  this  harmonious  combination  of  laws, 
this  beautiful  symmetry  of  relations,  directed,  with  no  ex 
ception  which  human  investigation  has  yet  discovered,  to 
the  preservation,  the  diffusion,  the  well-being  of  those 
living  things,  which,  though  of  their  nature  we  know  so 
little,  we  cannot  doubt  to  be  the  worthiest  objects  of  the 
Creator's  care.  We  find  if  we  never  experienced  pain, 
we  should  be  every  moment  injuring  ourselves  without 
perceiving  it.  Without  the  excitement  of  uneasiness, 
without  some  sensation  of  pain,  we  should  perform  no 
function  of  life,  should  never  communicate  it,  and  should 
have  none  of  its  pleasures.  Hunger,  which  compels  us 
to  take  our  required  nourishment,  is  the  commencement 
of  pain.  Ennui,  which  stimulates  us  to  exercise  and 
occupation,  is  a  pain.  Love  itself  is  a  longing  which 


Conscience  119 

becomes  painful  until  it  is  met  with  corresponding  at- 
tachment. In  a  word,  every  desire  is  a  want,  a  longing, 
a  beginning  of  pain.  Pain  is  therefore  the  mainspring  of 
all  the  actions  of  animated  beings.  Inasmuch  as  want 
involves  pain,  and  since  all  our  pleasures  proceed  from 
the  gratification  of  our  legitimate  wants,  it  is  apparent 
that  God  can,  and  does,  cause  even  pain  and  want  to  pave 
the  way  to  man's  happiness  and  well-being. 

That  all-foreseeing  Power,  who  is  the  guardian  of  our 
infirmities,  has  supplied  to  human  weakness  what  human 
wants  required.  There  is  a  principle  in  our  mind,  which, 
to  us,  is  like  a  constant  protector.  It  may  slumber,  in- 
deed, but  it  slumbers  only  at  seasons  when  its  vigilance 
would  be  useless.  It  awakes  at  the  first  intimation  of  dan- 
ger ;  and  it  becomes  more  watchful  and  vigorous  in  propor- 
tion to  the  violence  of  the  attack  which  it  has  to  dread. 

It  is  well  that  man  is  constituted  independently  of  his 
own  will,  and  that  he  has  so  little  power  in  shaping  the 
circumstances  amid  which  he  moves.  He  would  have 
needed  a  far  more  comprehensive  view  than  he  is  equal 
to,  both  of  what  is  best  for  men  in  a  community,  and  for 
man  as  an  individual,  had  he — a  creature  of  such  brief 
and  narrow  survey — been  left  with  the  fixing  either  of  his 
own  principles  of  action,  or  of  his  relation  with  the  ex- 
ternal world.  That  constitutional  shame, — that  quick  and 
trembling  delicacy, — a  prompt  and  ever-present  guardian, 
appearing  as  it  does  in  very  early  childhood,  is  most 
assuredly  not  the  result  of  our  anticipating  either  present 
or  distant  consequences.  Thus  with  reference  to  our 
animal  instincts,  to  which  we  have  already  alluded. 
Other  forces  than  those  of  human  prudence  and  human 
principle  seem  to  have  been  necessary  for  restraining 
within  legitimate  bounds  a  most  powerful  and  fascinating 
incentive,  which,  when  improperly  indulged,  is  deteriorat- 
ing to  the  moral  character ;  and  which,  when  once  permitted 
to  lord  it  over  the  habits,  so  often  terminates  in  the  cruel 


120         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

disruption  of  families  and  the  irretrievable  ruin  and  dis- 
grace of  the  offender.  It  is  not  by  any  prospective  cal- 
culation of  ours  that  natural  modesty  acts  herein  as  a 
strong  precautionary  check.  It  is  directly  implanted  by 
One  who  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  has  made 
it  available  to  all  men  at  all  times  by  a  monitor  set  up 
within  us.  Conscience,  as  the  supreme  arbiter  of  all  our 
actions,  superintends  all  our  senses,  passions,  and  appe- 
tites, and  judges  how  far  each  of  them  is  either  to  be 
indulged  or  restrained.  When  conscience  prevails  over 
the  other  principles  of  our  nature,  then  every  man  is  led, 
by  the  very  make  and  mechanism  of  his  internal  economy, 
to  feel  that  this  is  as  it  ought  to  be ;  or  if  these  others 
prevail  over  conscience,  that  this  is  not  as  it  ought  to  be. 
The  object  of  conscience  is  the  subordination  of  the  whole 
inner  man  to  its  dictates,  and  its  proper,  its  legitimate 
business,  is  to  .prescribe  what  man  shall  be  and  what  he 
shall  do. 

Righteousness,  it  is  felt,  would  not  have  been  so  en- 
throned in  the  moral  system  of  man,  had  it  not  been 
previously  enthroned  in  the  system  of  the  universe.  This 
is  not  a  local  or  geographical  notion.  It  is  not,  therefore, 
the  peculiarity  of  one  creed,  or  of  one  country.  It  circu- 
lates at  large  throughout  the  family  of  man.  We  can 
trace  it  in  the  religion  of  savage  life  where  theology  has 
not  found  its  way ;  it  maintains  its  authority  over  the 
artificial  theology  of  a  more  complex  and  idolatrous  pa- 
ganism. Neither  crime  nor  civilisation  can  extinguish  it ; 
and  whether  we  find  it  in  the  fierce  and  frenzied  Cataline, 
or  in  the  tranquil  contemplative  musings  of  Socrates  and 
Cicero,  we  find  the  impression  of  at  once  a  righteous  and 
a  reigning  Sovereign. 

The  law  of  conscience  may  be  regarded  as  comprising 
all  those  virtues  which  the  hand  of  the  Deity  has  inscribed 
on  the  tablet  of  the  human  heart ;  and  it  is  an  argument 
for  these  being  the  very  virtues  which  characterise  and 


Conscience  121 

adorn   Himself,  that  they  must  have  been   transcribed 
from  the  prior  tablet  of  His  own  nature. 

Conscience  speaks  the  same  language,  and  owns  one 
and  the  same  moral  directory  all  the  world  over.  True  to 
her  office  she  gives  forth  the  same  lessons  in  all  the  coun- 
tries of  the  earth.  Let  the  mists  of  passion  and  artificial 
education  be  only  cleared  away,  and  the  moral  attributes 
of  goodness  and  righteousness  and  truth  will  be  seen 
undistorted,  and  in  their  own  proper  guise — and  there  is 
not  a  heart  or  a  conscience  throughout  earth's  teeming 
population  which  could  refuse  to  do  them  homage.  In 
spite  of  the  occasional  diversity  of  moral  judgments,  which 
are  vastly  less  wide  and  numerous  than  is  generally  sup- 
posed, there  is  a  fixed  standard  of  morals,  to  the  greater 
principles  of  which  a  full  and  unanimous  homage  is  rend- 
ered from  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  On  the  whole, 
then,  it  is  evident  that  conscience  is  founded  on  human 
nature,  and  forms  a  constituent  part  of  it,  and  may  be 
regarded  as  a  faithful  witness  for  God,  the  Author  of  that 
nature,  and  as  rendering  to  His  character  a  consistent 
testimony.  This  ascendant  faculty  of  man,  which  may 
be  termed  the  divinity  within  us,  notwithstanding  the 
occasional  sophistry  of  the  passions,  is  on  the  whole, 
representative  of  the  Divinity  above  us.  Whenever  an 
act  of  iniquity  or  an  outrage  is  done  to  the  law  of  con- 
science, there  is  felt  a  reaction  within,  which  tells  that 
the  outrage  is  resented.  Then  it  is  that  conscience 
makes  most  emphatic  assertion  of  its  high  prerogative, 
and,  instead  of  coming  forth  as  the  benign  and  generous 
dispenser  of  its  rewards  to  the  obedient,  it  comes  forth 
like  an  offended  monarch  in  the  character  of  a  severe 
avenger.  In  that  instant  pleasure  and  instant  pain 
wherewith  conscience  follows  up  the  doings  of  man,  we 
behold  not  only  a  present  judgment,  but  a  present  execu- 
tion of  the  sentence,  to  the  end  that  immediate  repentance 
and  amended  ways  may  follow. 


122          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

God  is  the  rewarder  of  virtue.  He  has  so  constituted 
our  nature  that  in  the  very  flow  and  exercise  of  the  good 
affections  there  shall  be  the  oil  of  gladness.  There  is 
instant  delight  in  the  first  conception  of  benevolence. 
There  is  sustained  delight  in  its  continued  exercise. 
There  is  consummated  delight  in  its  happy,  smiling,  and 
prosperous  result.  Kindness  and  honesty  and  truth  are 
of  themselves  and  irrespective  of  their  Tightness,  sweet 
unto  the  taste  of  the  inner  man.  Malice,  envy,  falsehood, 
injustice,  irrespective  of  their  wrongness,  have  of  them- 
selves the  bitterness  of  gall  and  wormwood. 

It  is  thus  manifest  that  a  state  of  well-doing  stands  asso- 
ciated with  a  state  of  well-being.  The  special  virtue  of 
temperance  is  not  more  closely  associated  with  the  health 
of  the  body,  than  the  general  habit  of  virtue  is  with 
a  wholesome  and  well-conditioned  state  of  the  soul. 
There  is  then  no  derangement,  as  it  were,  in  the  system 
of  our  nature — all  the  powers,  whether  superior  or  sub- 
ordinate, being  in  their  right  places,  and  all  moving  with- 
out discord  and  without  dislocation.  In  short,  God  has 
so  framed  the  creatures  of  His  will  that  their  perfect 
goodness  and  perfect  happiness  are  one. 

To  educate  and  win  man  to  his  greatest  happiness  and 
true  destiny  God  has  spread  diversified  loveliness  over  the 
panorama  of  visible  things ;  thrown  innumerable  walks  of 
enchantment  around  us  ;  turned  the  sights  and  sounds  of 
rural  scenery  into  the  ministers  of  exquisite  enjoyment ; 
and  caused  the  outer  world  of  matter  to  image  forth  in 
profusion  those  various  qualities  which  please  or  power- 
fully affect  us  in  the  inner  world  of  consciousness  and 
thought.  God,  we  say,  has  thus  multiplied  our  enjoy- 
ments and  invested  them  with  such  qualities  as  suit  the 
constitution  of  the  human  mind.  He  has  pencilled  them 
with  the  very  colours  or  moulded  them  into  the  very 
shapes  which  suggest  either  the  graceful  or  the  noble  of 
the  human  character. 


Man's  Confidence  in  Nature          123 

He  has  so  formed  our  mental  constitution,  and  so 
adapted  the  whole  economy  of  external  things  to  the 
stable  and  everlasting  principles  of  virtue,  that  in  effect 
the  greatest  virtue  and  the  greatest  happiness  go  hand  in 
hand.  But  the  union  of  these  two  does  not  constitute 
their  unity.  Virtue  is  not  right  because  it  is  useful ;  but 
God  has  made  it  useful  because  it  is  right.  He  both 
wills  virtue  and  wills  the  happiness  of  His  creatures — this 
benevolence  of  will  being  itself  not  the  whole  but  one  of 
the  brightest  moralities  in  the  character  of  the  Godhead. 
He  wills  the  happiness  of  man  but  wills  his  virtue  more  ; 
and  accordingly  has  so  constructed  both  the  system  of 
humanity  and  the  system  of  eternal  nature,  that  only 
through  the  medium  of  virtue  can  any  substantial  or  last- 
ing happiness  be  realised.  Finally,  it  is  worthy  of  special 
note  that  while  conscience  exercises  the  same  authority 
and  gives  the  same  lessons,  approves  and  disapproves  of 
the  same  things  all  the  world  over,  it  never  condemns  in 
matters  concerning  the  thousands  of  disputed  creeds  and 
theologies  abroad  in  the  world ;  may  not  this  be  taken  as 
proof  positive  that  dogmas  and  doctrines  form  no  part  of 
genuine  religion  ? 

The  Christian  theology  being  entirely  based  upon  super- 
natural or  special  providences  in  contradistinction  to  the 
absolutely  stable  and  unalterable  laws  of  God,  we  cite  a 
passage  hereupon  from  the  writings  of  Dr.  Chalmers.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  views  here  expressed  are  completely 
adverse  to  the  idea  of  vacillating  and  shifting  laws,  such 
as  theologians  pretend  to  recognise  in  God's  government 
of  the  affairs  of  this  world. 

"  This  disposition  to  count  on  the  uniformity  of  Nature, 
or  even  to  anticipate  the  same  consequents  from  the  same 
antecedents,  is  not  the  fruit  of  experience  but  anterior  to 
it ;  or  at  least  anterior  to  the  very  earliest  of  those  of  her 
lessons  which  can  be  traced  backward  in  the  history  of  an 
infant  mind.  Indeed,  it  has  been  well  observed  by  Dr. 


124         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Thomas  Brown,  that  the  future  constancy  of  Nature  is  a 
lesson  which  no  observation  of  its  past  constancy  or  no 
experience  could  have  taught  us." 

At  whatever  stage  of  the  experience  the  inference  may 
be  made,  whether  longer  or  shorter,  whether  often  or 
seldom  repeated — the  conversion  of  the  past  into  the 
future  seems  to  require  a  distinct  and  independent  prin- 
ciple of  belief ;  and  it  is  a  principle  which,  to  all  appear- 
ance, is  as  vigorous  in  childhood  as  in  the  full  maturity 
of  the  human  understanding.  The  child  who  strikes  the 
table  with  a  spoon  for  the  first  time,  and  is  regaled  by  the 
noise,  will  strike  again  with  as  confident  an  expectation 
of  the  same  result  as  if  the  succession  had  been  familiar 
to  it  for  years.  There  is  the  expectation  before  the  ex- 
perience of  Nature's  constancy ;  and  still  the  topic  of  our 
wonder  and  gratitude  is,  that  this  instinctive  and  universal 
faith  in  the  heart  should  be  responded  to  by  objective 
nature  in  one  wide  and  universal  fulfilment. 

The  proper  office  of  experience  in  this  matter  is  very 
generally  misapprehended,  and  this  has  mystified  the  real 
principle  and  philosophy  of  the  subject.  Her  office  is  not 
to  tell  or  to  reassure  us  of  the  constancy  of  Nature ;  but 
to  tell  what  the  terms  of  her  unalterable  progressions  act- 
ually are. 

The  human  mind  from  its  first  outset,  and  in  virtue  of 
a  constitutional  bias  coeval  with  the  earliest  dawn  of  the 
understanding,  is  prepared — and  that  before  experience 
has  begun  her  lessons — to  count  on  the  constancy  of  Na- 
ture's sequences.  But  at  that  time  it  is  profoundly  ignor- 
ant of  the  sequences  in  themselves.  It  is  the  proper 
business  of  experience  to  give  this  information ;  but  it 
may  require  many  lessons  before  her  disciples  are 
made  to  understand  what  are  the  distinct  terms  even  of 
but  one  sequence.  Nature  presents  us  with  her  pheno- 
mena in  complex  assemblages  ;  and  it  is  often  difficult,  in 
the  work  of  disentangling  her  trains  from  each  other,  to 


Man's  Confidence  in  Nature          125 

single  out  the  proper  and  causal  antecedent  with  its  re- 
sulting consequent  from  among  the  crowd  of  accessory 
or  accidental  circumstances  by  which  they  are  sur- 
rounded. There  is  never  any  uncertainty  as  to  the 
invariableness  of  Nature's  successions.  The  only  uncer- 
tainty is  as  to  the  steps  of  each  succession,  and  the  distinct 
achievement  of  experience  is  to  ascertain  these  steps. 
And  many  mistakes  are  committed  in  this  course  of  edu- 
cation, from  our  disposition  to  confound  the  similarities 
with  the  samenesses  of  Nature.  We  never  misgive  in  our 
general  confidence  that  the  same  antecedent  will  be  fol- 
lowed by  the  same  consequent ;  but  we  often  mistake  the 
semblance  for  the  reality  and  are  as  often  disappointed  in 
the  expectations  that  we  form.  This  is  the  real  account 
of  that  growing  confidence  wherewith  we  anticipate  the 
same  results  in  th£  same  apparent  circumstances,  the 
oftener  that  that  result  has  in  these  circumstances  been 
observed  by  us — as  of  a  high-water  about  twice  every 
day  or  of  a  sunrise  every  morning.  It  is  not  that  we  need 
to  be  more  assured  than  we  are  already  of  the  constancy 
of  Nature,  in  the  sense  that  every  result  must  always  be 
the  sure  effect  of  its  strict  and  causal  antecedent.  But 
we  need  to  be  assured  of  the  real  presence  of  this  ante- 
cedent in  that  mass  of  contemporaneous  things  under 
which  the  result  has  taken  place  hitherto  ;  and  of  this  we 
are  more  and  more  satisfied  with  every  new  occurrence  of 
the  same  event  in  the  same  apparent  circumstances.  This 
is  too  our  real  object  in  the  repetition  of  experiments.  Not 
that  we  suspect  that  Nature  will  ever  vacillate  from  her 
constancy — for  if  by  one  decisive  experiment  we  should 
fix  the  real  terms  of  any  succession,  this  experiment  were 
to  us  as  good  as  a  thousand.  But  each  succession  in  Na- 
ture is  so  liable  to  be  obscured  and  complicated  by  other 
influences  that  we  must  be  quite  sure,  ere  we  can  proclaim 
our  discovery  of  some  new  sequence,  that  we  have  pro- 
perly disentangled  her  separate  trains  from  each  other. 


i26          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

For  this  purpose  we  have  often  to  question  Nature  in 
many  different  ways ;  we  have  to  combine  and  apply  her 
elements  variously  ;  we  have  sometimes  to  detach  one 
ingredient,  or  to  add  another,  or  to  alter  the  proportions 
of  a  third — and  all  in  order,  not  to  ascertain  the  invaria- 
bleness  of  Nature,  for  of  this  we  have  had  instinctive  cer- 
tainty from  the  beginning,  but  in  order  to  ascertain  what 
the  actual  footsteps  of  her  progressions  are,  so  as  to  con- 
nect each  effect  in  the  history  of  Nature's  changes  with 
its  strict  and  proper  cause.  Meanwhile,  amid  all  the 
suspense  and  the  frequent  disappointments  which  attend 
this  search  into  the  processes  of  Nature,  our  confidence  in 
the  rigid  and  inviolable  uniformity  of  these  processes  re- 
mains unshaken  —  a  confidence  not  learned  from  ex- 
perience but  amply  confirmed  and  accorded  to  by 
experience.  For  this  instinctive  expectation  is  never 
once  refuted  in  the  whole  course  of  our  subsequent  re- 
searches. Nature,  though  stretched  on  a  rack,  or  put  to 
the  torture  by  the  inquisitions  of  science,  never  falters 
from  her  immutability;  but  persists,  unseduced  and  un- 
wearied, in  the  same  response  to  the  same  question ;  or 
gives  forth,  by  a  spark,  or  an  explosion,  or  an  effervesc- 
ence, or  some  other  definite  phenomenon,  the  same  re- 
sult to  the  same  circumstances  or  combination  of  data. 
The  anticipations  of  infancy  meet  with  their  glorious 
verification  in  all  the  findings  of  manhood ;  and  a  truth 
which  would  seem  to  require  Omniscience  for  its  grasp,  as 
co-extensive  with  all  Nature  and  all  history,  is  deposited 
by  the  hand  of  God  in  the  little  cell  of  a  nursling's  cogit- 
ations. In  the  instinctive,  the  universal  faith  of  Nature's 
constancy  we  behold  a  promise.  In  the  actual  constancy 
of  Nature  we  behold  its  fulfilment.  When  the  two  are 
viewed  in  connection,  then,  to  be  told  that  Nature  never 
recedes  from  her  constancy  is  to  be  told  that  the  God 
of  Nature  never  recedes  from  His  faithfulness.  If  not  by 
a  whisper  from  His  voice,  at  least  by  the  impress  of  His 


Man's  Confidence  in  Nature          127 

hand,  He  has  deposited  a  silent  expectation  in  every 
heart ;  and  He  makes  all  Nature  and  all  history  conspire 
to  realise  it.  He  has  not  only  enabled  man  to  retain  in 
his  memory  a  faithful  transcript  of  the  past,  but,  by 
means  of  this  constitutional  tendency,  this  instinct  of  the 
understanding,  as  it  has  been  termed,  to  look  with  pro- 
phetic eye  upon  the  future.  It  is  the  link  by  which  we 
connect  experience  with  anticipation — a  power  or  exer- 
cise of  the  mind  coeval  with  the  first  dawnings  of  con- 
sciousness or  observation,  because  obviously  that  to  which 
we  owe  the  confidence  so  early  acquired  and  so  firmly 
established  in  the  information  of  our  senses.  Nature 
never  disappoints,  or,  which  is  equivalent  to  this,  the 
Author  of  Nature  never  deceives  us.  The  generality  of 
Nature's  laws  is  indispensable,  both  to  the  formation  of 
any  system  of  truth  for  the  understanding  and  to  the 
guidance  of  our  actions.  But  ere  we  can  make  use  of  it, 
the  sense  and  the  confident  expectation  of  this  generality 
must  be  previously  in  our  minds ;  and  the  concurrence, 
the  contingent  harmony  of  these  two  elements ;  the 
requisite  adaptation  of  the  objective  to  the  subjective, 
with  the  manifest  utilities  to  which  it  is  subservient ;  the 
palpable  and  perfect  meetness  which  subsists  between 
this  intellectual  propensity  in  man,  and  all  the  processes 
of  the  outward  universe — while  they  afford  incontestable 
evidence  to  the  existence  and  unity  of  that  design 
which  must  have  adjusted  the  mental  and  the  material 
formations  to  each  other,  speak  most  decisively,  in  our 
estimation,  both  for  the  truth  and  the  wisdom  of  God. 

We  have  long  felt  this  close  and  unexcepted  while  at 
the  same  time  contingent  harmony  between  the  actual 
constancy  of  Nature  and  man's  faith  in  that  constancy  to 
be  an  effectual  preservative  against  that  scepticism  which 
would  represent  the  whole  system  of  our  thoughts  and 
perceptions  to  be  founded  on  an  illusion.  Certain  it  is, 
that  besides  an  indefinite  number  of  truths  received  by 


128          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

the  understanding  as  the  conclusions  of  proof  more  or  less 
lengthened,  there  are  truths  recognised  without  proof  by 
an  instant  act  of  intuition  —  not  the  results  of  a  reasoning 
process  but  themselves  the  first  principles  of  all  reasoning. 

There  is  a  comfort  in  being  enabled  to  vindicate  the 
confidence  which  Nature  has  inspired  —  as  in  those  cases 
where  some  original  principle  of  hers  admits  of  being 
clearly  and  decidedly  tested.  And  it  is  so  of  our  faith 
in  the  constancy  of  Nature,  met  and  responded  to, 
throughout  all  her  dominions,  by  nature's  actual  con- 
stancy, the  one  being  the  expectation,  the  other  its  rigid 
and  invariable  fulfilment.  This  perhaps  is  the  most  palp- 
able instance  which  can  be  quoted  of  a  belief  anterior 
to  experience,  yet  of  which  experience  affords  a  wide  and 
unexcepted  verification.  It  proves  at  least  of  one  of  our 
implanted  instincts  that  it  is  unerring;  and  that,  over 
against  a  subjective  tendency  in  the  mind,  there  is  a 
great  objective  reality  in  circumambient  nature  to  which 
it  corresponds.  This  may  well  convince  us  that  we  live, 
not  in  a  world  of  imaginations  —  but  in  a  world  of  realities. 
It  is  a  noble  example  of  the  harmony  which  obtains 
between  the  original  make  and  constitution  of  the  human 
spirit  upon  the  one  hand,  and  the  constitution  of  external 
things  upon  the  other ;  and  nobly  accredits  the  faithful- 
ness of  Him,  who,  as  the  Creator  of  both,  ordained  this 
happy  and  'wondrous  adaptation.  That  we  are  never 
misled  in  our  instinctive  belief  in  Nature's  uniformity, 
demonstrates  the  perfect  safety  wherewith  we  may  com- 
mit ourselves  to  the  guidance  of  our  original  principles, 
whether  intellectual  or  moral  —  assured  that,  instead  of 
occupying  a  land  of  shadows,  a  region  of  universal  doubt 
and  derision,  they  are  the  stabilities,  both  of  an  everlast- 
ing truth  and  an  everlasting  righteousness  with  which  we 
have  to  do.  This  is  directly  opposed  to  special  provid- 
ences, without  which  Christian  theology  is  baseless. 

Our  ideas   of   the   moral  attributes  of  God  must  be 


The  Moral  Law  129 

derived  from  our  own  moral  perceptions.  It  is  only  by 
attending  to  these  that  we  can  form  a  conception  of  what 
His  attributes  are ;  and  it  is  in  this  way  we  are  furnished 
with  the  strongest  proofs  that  they  really  belong  to  Him. 
The  peculiar  sentiment  of  approbation  with  which  we 
regard  the  virtue  of  beneficence  in  others,  the  peculiar 
satisfaction  with  which  we  reflect  on  each  of  our  own  ac- 
tions that  have  contributed  to  the  happiness  of  mankind, 
and  we  may  add,  the  exquisite  pleasure  accompanying  the 
exercise  of  all  the  kind  affections,  naturally  lead  us  to 
consider  benevolence  or  goodness  as  the  supreme  attribute 
of  the  Deity.  It  is  difficult,  indeed,  to  conceive  what 
other  motive  could  have  induced  a  Being,  completely  and 
independently  happy,  to  have  called  His  creatures  into 
existence.  The  evils  which  we  suffer  are  parts  of  a  great 
system  conducted  by  Almighty  power  under  the  direction 
of  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness. 

The  creation  of  beings  endowed  with  free-will,  and 
consequently  liable  to  moral  delinquency,  and  the  govern- 
ment of  the  world  by  general  laws  —  from  which  occa- 
sional evils  must  result  —  furnish  no  solid  objection  to  the 
perfection  of  the  universe.  When  man,  ignorantly  or 
knowingly,  violates  any  of  God's  laws,  he  receives  the 
punishment  consequent  upon  his  action  and  best  for  his 
ultimate  welfare.  Such  punishment  is  therefore  in  accord- 
ance with  God's  goodness  and  justice  —  utility  being  the 
sole  principle  of  action,  as  well  in  regard  to  punishments 
as  rewards. 

The  various  duties  of  life  agree  with  each  other  in  one 
common  quality,  that  of  being  obligatory  on  rational  and 
voluntary  agents ;  and  they  are  all  enjoined  by  the  same 
authority  —  the  authority  of  conscience.  These  duties, 
therefore,  are  but  different  articles  of  one  law,  which  is 
properly  expressed  by  the  word  Virtue ;  or  still  more 
unequivocally  by  the  phrase,  The  Moral  Law. 

The  practice  of  morality  is  facilitated  by  repeated  acts ; 


130         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

and,  therefore,  the  word  Virtue  may  with  propriety  be 
employed  to  express  that  habit  of  mind  which  it  is  the 
great  object  of  a  good  man  to  confirm.  "  He  that  ruleth 
his  spirit  feels  himself  greater  than  he  that  taketh  a  city." 
"  It  is  pleasant,"  says  Dr.  Tillotson,  "  to  be  virtuous  and 
good,  because  that  is  to  excel  many  others.  It  is  pleasant 
to  grow  better,  because  that  is  to  excel  ourselves."  We 
are  under  an  obligation  to  right,  which  is  antecedent,  and, 
in  order  and  nature,  superior  to  all  other. 

Dr.  Clarke  has  expressed  himself  nearly  to  the  same 
purpose.  "  The  judgment  and  conscience  of  a  man's  own 
mind  concerning  the  reasonableness  and  fitness  of  a  thing, 
is  the  truest  and  most  formal  obligation,  for  whoever  acts 
contrary  to  this  sense  and  conscience  of  his  own  mind,  is 
necessarily  self-condemned,  and  the  greatest  and  strong- 
est of  all  obligations  is  that  which  a  man  cannot  break 
through  without  condemning  himself.  So  far,  therefore, 
as  men  are  conscious  of  what  is  right  and  wrong,  so  far 
they  are  under  an  obligation  to  act  accordingly."  This 
view  of  human  nature  is  the  most  simple,  so  it  is  the 
most  ancient  which  occurs  in  the  history  of  moral  science. 
It  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Pythagorean  school,  as  appears 
from  a  fragment  of  Theages,  a  Pythagorean  writer,  pub- 
lished in  Gale's  Opuscula  Mythologica.  It  is  also  explained 
by  Plato,  in  some  of  his  dialogues.  Adam  Smith  says : 
"  Upon  whatever  we  suppose  our  moral  faculties  to  be 
founded,  whether  upon  a  certain  modification  of  reason, 
upon  an  original  instinct  called  a  moral  sense,  or  upon 
some  other  principle  of  our  nature,  it  cannot  be  doubted 
that  they  are  given  us  for  the  direction  of  our  conduct  in 
this  life.  They  carry  along  with  them  the  most  evident 
badges  of  their  authority,  which  denote  that  they  were 
set  up  within  us  to  be  the  supreme  arbiters  of  all  our 
actions  ;  to  superintend  all  our  senses,  passions,  and  ap- 
petites ;  and  to  judge  how  far  each  of  them  was  to  be 
either  indulged  or  restrained.  Since  these,  therefore,  were 


Constancy  of  Nature's  Laws          131 

plainly  intended  to  be  the  governing  principles  of  human 
nature,  the  rules  which  they  prescribe  are  to  be  regarded 
as  the  commands  and  laws  of  the  Deity,  promulgated  by 
those  vicegerents  which  He  has  thus  set  up  within  us. 
.  .  .  By  acting  according  to  their  dictates,  we  may  be 
said,  in  some  sense,  to  co-operate  with  the  Deity,  and 
to  advance,  as  far  as  in  our  power,  the  plan  of  Provi- 
dence." 

Again :  "  Therefore,  all  things  whatsoever  ye  would 
that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them ;  for 
this  is  the  Law  and  the  Prophets"  (Matthew  vii.  12). 
This  golden  rule  was  embodied  in  the  words  of  Confucius, 
the  Chinese  sage,  five  hundred  years  before  Christ ;  and 
again  by  Hillel,  a  Hebrew  president,  thirty  years  before 
Christ.  But  all  men  have  been  under  its  influence,  and 
have  been  actuated  by  it,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  since 
the  existence  of  man,  independent  of  its  having  been 
spoken  or  written.  The  principle  upon  which  the  saying 
is  founded  is  innate  —  imperative  in  a  degree,  and  none 
can  disregard  it. 

The  generality  or  constancy  of  Nature's  laws  is  indis- 
pensable, both  to  the  formation  of  any  system  of  truth 
for  the  understanding,  and  to  the  guidance  of  our  actions. 
The  stability  of  God's  law,  we  say,  is  indispensable  to 
our  being  educated  to  its  observance,  and  yet  the  churches 
inculcate  that  it  is  vacillating  or  being  changed  from  day 
to  day,  at  the  instance  of  prayer  or  other  causes  moving 
God  to  reverse  His  general  laws,  the  better  to  provide  for 
some  special  and  unforeseen  contingency.  On  this  one 
question,  as  to  whether  God's  purposes  and  ways  are 
unchangeable  or  whether  they  are  vacillating,  hangs  the 
truth  or  fallacy  of  the  pretended  fall  of  man,  and  the 
Christian  scheme  for  his  restoration.  Mr.  Buckle  has 
well  observed  that  the  ancient  superstition  is  now  slowly 
though  surely  dying  away,  which  represented  the  Deity 
as  being  constantly  moved  to  anger,  delighting  in  seeing 


i32          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

His  creatures  abase  and  mortify  themselves,  taking  pleas- 
ure in  their  sacrifices  and  their  austerities,  and,  notwith- 
standing all  they  could  do,  constantly  inflicting  on  them 
the  most  grievous  punishments,  among  which  the  different 
forms  of  pestilence  were  conspicuous.  It  is  by  science, 
and  by  science  alone,  that  these  horrible  delusions  are 
being  dissipated.  Events  which  formerly  were  deemed 
supernatural  visitations,  are  now  shown  to  depend  upon 
natural  causes,  and  to  be  amenable  to  natural  remedies. 
Man  can  predict  them,  and  man  can  deal  with  them. 
Being  the  inevitable  result  of  their  own  antecedents,  no 
room  is  left  for  the  notion  of  their  being  special  inflic- 
tions. This  great  change  in  our  opinions  is  fatal  to 
theology,  but  serviceable  to  religion.  For  by  it,  science 
instead  of  being  the  enemy  of  religion  becomes  its  ally. 

That  this  remarkable  improvement,  the  relieving  of  re- 
ligion from  dogma,  is  due  to  the  progress  of  physical 
science,  is  apparent  not  only  from  general  arguments 
which  would  lead  us  to  anticipate  that  such  must  be  the 
case,  but  also  from  the  historical  fact  that  the  gradual 
destruction  of  the  old  theology  is  everywhere  preceded  by 
the  growth  and  diffusion  of  physical  truths.  The  more 
we  know  of  the  laws  of  Nature  the  more  clearly  do  we 
understand  that  everything  which  happens  in  the  mate- 
rial world,  pestilence,  earthquake,  famine,  or  whatever  it 
may  be,  is  the  necessary  result  of  something  which  has 
previously  happened.  Cause  produces  effect,  and  the  ef- 
fect becomes  in  its  turn  a  cause  of  other  effects.  In  that 
operation  there  is  no  gap  and  no  pause.  The  chain  is 
unbroken ;  the  constancy  of  Nature  is  unviolated.  Our 
minds  become  habituated  to  contemplate  all  physical 
phenomena  as  presenting  an  orderly,  uniform,  and  spon- 
taneous march,  and  running  on  in  one  regular  and  unin- 
terrupted sequence.  This  is  the  scientific  view.  It  is 
also  the  religious  view.  Against  it,  we  have  the  theo- 
logical view;  but  that  which  has  already  lost  its  hold 


Providential  Interference  133 

over  the  intellect  of  men  is  now  losing  its  hold  over  their 
affections,  and  is  so  manifestly  perishing  that  at  present 
no  educated  person  ventures  to  defend  it,  without  so 
limiting  and  guarding  his  meaning  as  to  concede  to  its 
opponents  nearly  every  point  which  is  really  at  issue. 

"  While,  however,  in  regard  to  the  material  world,  the 
narrow  notions  formerly  entertained  are,  in  the  most 
enlightened  countries,  almost  extinct,  it  must  be  confessed 
that  in  regard  to  the  moral  world,  the  progress  of  opinion 
is  less  rapid.  The  same  men  who  believe  that  Nature  is 
undisturbed  by  miraculous  interposition,  refuse  to  believe 
that  man  is  equally  undisturbed.  In  the  one  case,  they 
assert  the  scientific  doctrine  of  regularity ;  in  the  other, 
they  assert  the  theological  doctrine  of  irregularity. 

"  The  doctrine  that  God  governs  the  world  by  super- 
natural and  irregular  means  instead  of  never  varying  laws 
is  not  only  unscientific,  but  it  is  eminently  irreligious. 
It  is,  in  fact,  an  impeachment  of  one  of  the  noblest  at- 
tributes of  the  Deity.  It  is  a  slur  on  the  omniscience  of 
God.  It  assumes  that  the  fate  of  nations,  instead  of 
being  the  result  of  preceding  and  surrounding  events,  is 
specially  subject  to  the  control  and  interference  of  Pro- 
vidence. It  assumes  that  there  are  great  public  emerg- 
encies, in  which  such  interference  is  needed.  It  assumes 
that,  without  this  interference,  the  course  of  affairs  could 
not  run  smoothly ;  that  they  would  be  jangled  and  out 
of  tune ;  that  the  play  and  harmony  of  the  whole  would 
be  incomplete.  And  thus  it  is  that  the  very  men  who  at 
one  moment  proclaim  the  Divine  omniscience,  do  at  the 
next  moment  advocate  a  theory  which  reduces  that  om- 
niscience to  nothing,  since  it  imputes  to  an  All-wise  Being, 
that  the  scheme  of  human  affairs,  of  which  He  must  from 
the  beginning  have  foreseen  every  issue  and  every  conse- 
quence, is  so  weakly  contrived  as  to  be  liable  to  be  frus- 
trated ;  that  it  has  not  turned  out  as  He  could  have 
wished ;  that  it  has  been  baffled  by  His  own  creatures  ; 


134          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

and  that,  to  preserve  its  integrity,  its  operations  must  be 
tampered  with  and  its  disorders  redressed.  The  great 
Architect  of  the  Universe,  the  Creator  and  Designer  of 
all  existing  things,  is  likened  to  some  clumsy  mechanic, 
who  knows  his  trade  so  ill  that  he  has  to  be  called  in  to 
alter  the  working  of  his  own  machine,  to  supply  its  defi- 
ciencies, to  fill  up  its  flaws,  and  to  rectify  its  errors. 

"  Those  who  cling  to  these  errors  do  so  from  the  influ- 
ence of  tradition,  rather  than  from  complete  and  un- 
swerving belief.  From  the  beginning  there  has  been  no 
discrepancy,  no  incongruity,  no  disorder,  no  interruption, 
no  interference ;  but  all  the  events  which  surround  us, 
even  to  the  furthest  limits  of  the  material  creation,  are 
but  different  parts  of  a  single  scheme,  which  is  permeated 
by  one  glorious  principle  of  universal  and  undeviating 
regularity." 

Faith  in  an  existence  beyond  the  grave  involves  by 
necessity  the  belief  that  man's  spiritual  individuality,  his 
consciousness  of  personal  identity,  is  preserved  to  each 
individual ;  else  the  faith  with  which  God  has  inspired 
him  in  relation  to  happiness  in  another  world  would  be 
a  delusion.  Man  can  have  no  conception  of  future  happi- 
ness, or  attach  any  value  to  the  idea  of  it,  apart  from 
associations  with  his  present  existence,  or  unless  he  blends 
with  it  some  recollection  of  his  past  existence,  peculiar- 
ities, and  identity.  Let  a  man  contemplate  his  mind  and 
spirit  waking  up  in  eternity  as  from  a  sleep,  with  all  their 
faculties  in  full  vigour,  co-operating  and  performing  their 
normal  functions  as  when  united  to  the  body  here,  and 
possessing  all  the  peculiarities  that  distinguished  them 
individually,  yet  without  the  slightest  remembrance  or 
consciousness  of  his  former  being — would  such  a  future 
be  deemed  of  the  smallest  worth  by  any  one  ?  If  we  are 
not  to  know  ourselves  in  the  next  world  and  to  associate 
our  existence  here  with  that  of  the  world  to  come,  then 
it  matters  little  whether  it  be  another  or  ourself  that  se- 


Heaven  and  Hell  135 

cures  a  more  or  less  happy  state  in  eternity,  or  any  exist- 
ence whatever  beyond  the  grave. 

In  the  infancy  of  the  human  race,  when  men  were 
slowly  elaborating  forms  of  speech  to  give  utterance  to 
their  thoughts,  and  communicate  with  their  fellows,  words 
were  invented  that,  however  originally  useful  in  them- 
selved,  have  helped,  in  the  progress  of  time,  to  circum- 
scribe the  intellect  they  were  intended  to  enlarge.  Such 
words,  to  this  day,  exercise  a  prejudicial  effect,  and  con- 
vey false  meanings  and  impressions.  Thus  the  Bible 
accounts  of  Heaven  and  Hell  give  an  altogether  errone- 
ous idea  of  the  imaginary  states  which  they  profess  to  pre- 
figure. Heaven  is  represented  as  a  place  above  the  earth 
— a  place  heaved-up,  like  a  vault  or  arch  over  the  earth, 
in  which  God  is  supposed  to  dwell.  The  discovery  that 
the  earth  is  a  globe,  and  not  an  extended  plane,  ought  to 
suggest  an  idea  of  Heaven  more  correctly  applicable  to 
the  fact;  for  it  makes  the  words  "up"  and  "down" 
mathematically  incorrect,  and  pertinent  only  to  that  ap- 
parent plane  commanded  by  the  human  eye.  Still,  how- 
ever, not  only  the  ignorant  but  the  educated  continue 
to  speak  of  "  Heaven  "  as  a  place  above  the  earth, — as  the 
abode  of  God, —  a  place  inhabited  in  eternity  only  by 
those  who  believe  in  certain  doctrines  which  are  incul- 
cated here,  and  where  the  enjoyments  prepared  for  them 
are,  according  to  most  creeds,  far  more  carnal  than  spirit- 
ual, and  pertain  to  the  things  upon  which  the  sensual  are 
most  addicted  to  set  a  value.  For  the  faithful  Christian 
there  are  crowns  of  gold,  to  be  worn  in  a  city  which  is 
paved  with  gold,  whose  foundations  are  garnished  with 
all  manner  of  precious  stones,  and  whose  twelve  gates  are 
of  pearl.  There  are  beautiful  bowers  and  fountains,  and 
lovely  "  houries "  for  the  eternal  delight  of  the  good 
Mussulman.  There  are  happy  hunting  grounds  for  the 
immortalised  Red  Indian. 

In  like  manner  the  word  "Hell" — which  originally  meant 


One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

a  "  hole/'  or  the  "  grave  " — has  been  used  to  create  an 
idea  opposite  to  Heaven, — the  heaved-up  abode  of  bliss,— 
and  to  signify  a  place  below  the  earth, — a  place  of  eternal 
punishment, — the  abode  of  the  Devil,  the  representative 
of  the  principle  of  evil,  where  unbelievers  will  be  tor- 
mented for  ever  in  fire  and  brimstone.  Astronomy  ought 
to  make  an  end  of  both  of  these  erroneous  ideas,  for  it 
proves  that  the  universe  is  the  abode  of  God — the  uni- 
verse that  embraces  the  earth,  the  stars,  and  every  other 
system  that  pervades  the  infinity  of  space.  There  is 
therefore  no  room  for  Hell.  The  glorious  universe  swal- 
lows up  every  atom  of  space  that  exists.  If  the  terms 
are  admissible  in  any  sense,  Heaven  is  in  reality  a  com- 
paratively advanced  state  of  happiness,  here  and  here- 
after, brought  about  by  obedience  to  God's  laws.  Hell, 
in  like  manner,  is  the  state  of  mind,  here  and  hereafter, 
produced  by  disobedience  to  those  laws.  It  is,  within 
certain  limits,  for  man  himself  to  decide  or  control,  by  his 
own  conduct,  the  amount  of  either  that  shall  be  his  portion. 

At  every  step  in  a  train  of  argumentation  we  are  in 
the  habit  of  affirming  one  thing  to  be  true  because  of  its 
logical  connection  with  another  thing  known  to  be  true. 
But,  as  this  process  of  derivation  must  have  a  limit,  it  is 
obvious  that  at  the  starting  point  to  which  some  at  least 
of  these  trains  of  reasoning  are  traced  back,  there  must 
be  truths  which — instead  of  borrowing  their  credibility 
from  others — announce  themselves  immediately  to  the 
mind  by  the  original  and  independent  and  inherent  evi- 
dence pertaining  to  them. 

Now,  among  those  primary  convictions  of  the  under- 
standing,— those  truths  which  come  by  necessity,  first- 
handed  from  God  to  man, — we  shall,  for  our  present  pur- 
pose, cite  only  the  one  from  which  all  others  radiate ;  to  wit, 
the  existence  of  a  God  who  is  the  Creator  and  Ruler  of  the 
universe — including  man.  Upon  this  undisputable  truth 
— we  claim — may  be  founded  with  implicit  confidence  the 


A  Primary  Conviction  137 

following  propositions :  That  He  who  made  the  universe 
has  no  peer,  no  equal,  is  One  and  indivisible  ;  that  He  is 
absolute  in  power ;  that  there  is  no  devil  or  other  being 
disputing  His  sway,  or  at  enmity  with  Him ;  that  He  is 
infinite  in  justice  and  goodness,  and  hence  could  not  have 
so  ordained  man  and  his  surroundings  as  to  permit  of 
other  than  eventual  supreme  good  to  each  human  being. 

We  hold  that  these  views  in  relation  to  God  naturally 
flow  from  the  bare  contemplation  of  Him  whose  know- 
ledge and  power  were  and  are  equal  to  creating  and  sus- 
taining the  universe.  We  hold  also  that  experience, 
which  shall  never  end,  commences  betimes  in  the  life  of 
each  man,  to  confirm  him  the  more  and  more  in  his  early 
conceptions  of  God's  excellence  and  glory. 

This  prime  conviction  of  the  existence  of  a  God,  and 
the  natural  deductions  from  it,  practically  override  all 
false  teaching,  come  it  from  whatsoever  source  it  may, 
and  is  ever  confirming  the  true.  We  have  said  that  a 
self-evident  truth,  which  must  by  necessity  come  to  the 
mind  of  every  man  first-hand,  is  the  only  reliable  basis, 
no  less  than  the  continuous  cement  of  all  sound  reason- 
ing. Where  do  the  Christian  Churches  find  this  basis 
and  this  cement  ?  Is  it  in  their  traditions,  in  their  theo- 
logies borrowed  from  the  ancients,  in  their  fabulous  records 
contradicted  by  history,  in  the  unfulfilled  predictions  of 
their  oracles,  in  their  miracles,  which  will  not  bear  the  test 
of  science,  in  their  self-bestowed  certificates  of  their  own 
infallibility,  in  the  bloody  doings  of  their  hierarchy  during 
the  Dark  Ages,  in  their  repulsive  creed  that  dooms  the 
vast  majority  of  mankind  to  everlasting  anguish  ? 

Furthermore,  the  need  of  a  base,  or  foundation, — cor- 
responding in  solidity,  and  of  universal  acceptation  with 
that  of  the  existence  of  a  one  Omnipotent  and  Indivisible 
God, — whereupon  to  rest  the  doctrines  peculiar  to  the 
Christian  theology,  as  distinguished  from  natural  religion, 
is  visible  in  the  multiplicity  of  Christian  sects,  in  their 


138          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

wars  and  persecutions  among  themselves  in  other  times, 
and  in  their  divisions  and  heart-burnings  of  to-day.  This 
again  brings  up  the  question  which  distinguishes  theology 
from  religion. 

God  has  so  constituted  us  that  we  thirst  for  know- 
ledge adapted  to  our  taste  for  the  beautiful ;  and  He  has 
formed  the  world  without  to  awaken  echoes  in  the  soul 
within,  so  as  to  promote  at  one  and  the  same  time  the 
enlargement  of  the  experience,  the  quickening  of  the 
understanding,  and  the  refinement  of  the  feelings. 

Each  class  of  objects  furnishes  its  quota  of  evidence. 
The  physical  works  of  God  give  indications  of  power  and 
skill.  The  providence  of  God  exhibits  a  governing  and 
controlling  energy.  Our  spiritual  natures  lift  us  to  the 
conception  of  a  living  and  spiritual  God. 

The  phenomena  which  prove  the  existence  of  God 
also  demonstrate  that  He  delights  in  the  happiness  of 
His  creatures.  How  delightful  to  find  that  every  adapta- 
tion indicating  design  also  indicates  benevolence,  and  that 
we  have  as  clear  evidence  of  the  goodness  as  of  the  very 
existence  of  God.  Let  it  be  observed,  too,  that  the  mind, 
as  its  general  conceptions  expand,  will  also  have  its  idea 
of  God  expanded.  When  Nature  is  viewed  in  a  narrow 
spirit  it  may  leave  the  impression  that  there  is  an  un- 
seemly warfare,  and  that  there  are  numberless  contradic- 
tions in  the  universe.  The  light  of  knowledge,  as  it  rises, 
dispels  these  phantoms,  and  discloses  among  apparent 
incongruities  and  contentions  a  unity  of  being  in  the 
Creator  and  Governor  of  all  things. 

The  workings  of  conscience  in  the  soul,  besides  furnish- 
ing a  curious  subject  of  inquiry,  carry  us  down  into  the 
very  depths  of  our  nature,  and  thence  upwards  to  some 
of  the  highest  of  the  Divine  perfections.  It  is  by  this 
light,  which  God  has  furnished  to  all  men,  and  the  train- 
ing resulting  from  His  unalterable  laws,  that  God's  good- 
ness will  become  more  and  more  apparent. 


God  and  Man  139 

We  have  seen  that  in  Judaism,  Mohammedanism,  Hin- 
dooism,  Buddhism,  Christianity,  and  every  description  of 
creed  under  the  sun,  the  will  of  a  living  Being  is  asserted 
as  the  ground  of  all  things ;  they  all  speak  of  Him  as 
declaring  Himself,  and  as  exercising  a  continual,  not  an 
occasional,  government  over  men.  The  universal  recogni- 
tion of  a  Divine,  personal,  unseen,  Sovereignty;  of  One 
who  is  not  sought  out  by  men,  but  who  calls  them  to  do 
His  work,  is  the  foundation  and  strength  of  actual  re- 
ligion. He  calls  upon  them  to  obey  a  Will ;  each  act  of 
obedience  brings  them  into  closer  acquaintance  with  Him 
who  gives  the  command. 

Man  is  taught  that  the  evil  which  he  is  conscious  of 
in  himself,  and  which  he  sees  in  others,  comes  from  un- 
likeness  to  the  perfect  Being  in  whose  image  he  is  cre- 
ated. He  has  but  a  glimpse  of  the  Divine  purposes  and 
character,  but  it  is  such  a  glimpse  as  is  suitable  to  his 
necessities.  He  is  taught  that  righteousness  is  a  reality ; 
that  the  government  of  the  world  is  based  upon  it ;  that 
wrong  and  oppression  are  not  meant  to  triumph. 

But  such  a  Revelation  as  this  could  never  merely  be 
delivered  to  men  as  a  book  of  sentences  or  maxims ;  it 
must  come  forth  in  a  history  of  Divine  law  and  human 
acts.  It  must  show  how  the  Divine  Will  directed  events 
by  means  of  a  never  varying  law  and  disciplined  men  for 
that  perfect  good,  that  knowledge  of  Himself  which  He 
had  designed  for  them.  It  must  show  how  He  cultivates 
the  faculties  which  He  has  given  to  His  creatures,  how 
He  enables  them  to  overcome  the  darkness  and  difficult- 
ies in  the  midst  of  which  they  are  struggling,  thus  secur- 
ing the  predominance  of  right  over  wrong,  and  of  virtue 
over  vice,  and  the  clearer  and  clearer  view  of  God's  good- 
ness and  perfection. 

In  primitive  times  men  in  striving  to  comprehend  the 
characteristics  of  God,  resorted  by  way  of  illustration  to 
those  traits  in  human  character  which  are  quite  at  vari- 


140         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

ance  with  His  nature.  In  many  cases  this  course  misleads 
rather  than  edifies.  Such  passions  and  emotions,  while 
especially  adapted  to  the  necessities  of  finite  beings  of 
limited  power  and  knowledge  and  liable  to  err,  have  no 
counterpart  in  God's  higher  nature.  His  infinite  power, 
knowledge,  foresight,  justice,  goodness,  in  short  His 
supreme  perfections  preclude  any  such  emotions,  pas- 
sions, or  qualities  as  repentance,  anger,  pity,  hope,  fear, 
love,  mercy,  hatred,  forgiveness,  surprise,  gladness,  levity, 
revenge,  disappointment,  rejoicing,  or  jealousy.  Nothing 
can  take  place  which  God  did  not  foresee  would  take 
place  at  the  time  of  establishing  His  perfect  design,  to  be 
worked  out  under  the  unalterable  laws  that  He  ordained 
for  the  purpose.  Since,  therefore,  it  is  man's  high  priv- 
ilege to  advance  in  the  knowledge  and  appreciation  of 
God's  goodness  and  perfections,  in  contemplation  of  Him 
we  should  avail  ourselves  of  the  highest  intellectual  cult- 
ure at  our  command.  In  this  way,  we  confirm  and  add 
to  the  original  conception  of  God,  taught  us  by  natural 
religion.  This  will  lead  us  to  a  vastly  more  elevated  idea 
of  God  than  those  teachings  which  inculcate  that  He  is 
finite  and  vacillating,  and  which  reduce  Him  to  a  level 
with  His  dependent,  short-sighted  creatures.  Love,  mercy, 
and  forgiveness  cannot  apply  to  God  in  the  sense  in 
which  these  emotions  are  understood  and  expressed  by 
man.  Justice  and  goodness  supersede  them.  God's 
ordinances  regulated  by  His  infinite  wisdom  are  such 
that  the  exercise  of  mercy  and  forgiveness  would  be  less 
just  and  beneficial  to  man  than  otherwise,  both  in  this 
life  and  the  life  to  come.  It  is  far  better  for  God  to  exact 
to  the  utmost  that  penalty  which  He  has  attached  to  man's 
misdoings,  not  as  punishment,  but  as  remedy — inasmuch 
as  it  is  imposed  upon  him  with  the  sole  object  of  training 
and  fitting  him  to  the  destiny  that  God  originally  designed 
for  him.  A  jury  sometimes  recommends  to  the  mercy  of 
the  court  a  criminal  whom  they  have  condemned,  because 


No  Remission  of  Penalties  141 

they  are  not  altogether  satisfied  that  the  culprit  is  guilty 
by  the  strict  interpretation  of  the  law,  or  because  they 
find  mitigating  circumstances  in  his  case.  Not  so  with 
God — He  is  enabled  by  His  perfect  foreknowledge  and 
wisdom  to  make  sure  that  the  crime  and  the  punishment 
are  in  exact  fitness  to  each  other ;  and  since  they  are  so 
adjusted  for  man's  best  interests,  it  would  be  unmerciful 
to  destroy  this  fitness,  by  the  relaxation  of  any  portion  of 
the  penalty  originally  attached  to  man's  misdoings.  The 
same  considerations  apply  to  love.  If  God's  original  laws 
are  strictly  just,  and  all-sufficient  for  carrying  out  His 
perfect  purpose, — and  who  shall  doubt  it, — any  exercise  of 
love  that  would  alter  man's  original  relation  to  those  laws 
would  be  unjust  to  him.  God's  justice  is  exact  to  the 
most  minute  point,  and  admits  of  no  amendment.  Any 
exercise  of  love  or  mercy  on  God's  part  that  would 
reverse  His  original  decrees,  presupposes  God  to  be  falli- 
ble or  unable  to  ordain  all  things  aright  from  the  first. 

The  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  is  intended  to  inculcate 
the  idea  that  God  rejoices  more  over  the  repentance  of  a 
sinner,  than  over  the  well-doing  of  a  just  man.  What  a 
striking  example  of  the  unwarrantable  application  of 
human  passions  to  the  Deity  is  this !  It  is  natural  that  a 
father  should  experience  an  agreeable  surprise  and  elation 
at  the  return  of  a  wayward  son  to  duty.  But  God  has 
ordained  that  he  who  sins  shall  assuredly  repent ;  and 
what  God  has  imperatively  ordained  to  take  place  can 
afford  Him  no  surprise  or  rejoicing  at  its  consummation. 
Every  event  or  issue  is  the  even  flow  of  the  purpose  He 
foresaw  and  intended  from  the  beginning ;  therefore  the 
parable  in  question  is  not  a  true  illustration  of  the  at- 
tributes or  emotions  of  God.  Sincere  repentance  tends, 
most  forcibly,  to  turn  men  from  their  evil  ways ;  and 
therefore  Jesus  did  well  when  he  charged  his  Apostles 
to  preach  repentance,  but  inconsistently  when  he  incul- 
cated the  idea  that  repentance  brings  remission  of  the 


142          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

penalty  due  to  sin.  This  is  impossible,  inasmuch  as 
the  punishment  which  sin  entails  is  the  sole  cause  of  the 
repentance.  The  effect  of  punishment  and  repentance 
for  sin  were  never  meant  to  be  retrospective ;  but  are  in- 
tended to  warn  us  against  the  commission  of  sin  in  future. 
For  instance,  the  burnt  child  dreads  the  fire.  This  whole- 
some dread  in  no  wise  assuages  the  pain  of  the  burn ;  but 
it  is  an  important  lesson  to  the  child  to  enable  it  to  steer 
clear  of  similar  dangers,  and  the  more  effectual  as  the  pain  is 
more  severe.  God's  goodness  and  justice  are  here  shown 
in  exacting  the  penalty,  and  thereby  producing  the  re- 
pentance ;  since  repentance  leads  to  man's  best  interests. 

Even  the  appellation  of  Father  accorded  to  God  by 
Jesus — much  as  it  has  done  and  is  calculated  to  do  in 
giving  some  appreciation  of  God's  goodness  and  care  over 
His  creatures — falls  as  far  short  of  giving  the  true  idea  of 
the  extent  and  beneficial  exercise  of  God's  goodness  as 
weak  man  falls  short  of  God's  perfection.  God,  in  dis- 
pensing happiness  to  His  creatures,  goes  to  the  extreme 
bounds  that  is  well  for  them,  but  never  beyond.  God, 
knowing  all  things,  does  all  things  with  a  perfection 
beyond  man's  conception.  Neither  Father,  nor  any  other 
human  idea  or  figure  of  speech,  can  fully  represent  God's 
goodness  to  His  creatures.  Jesus  says  truly,  "  there  is 
none  good  but  God." 

This  view  of  Divine  government  involves  a  much  more 
elevated  idea  and  worship  of  God  than  any  other.  The 
perfect  foreknowledge  and  power  of  God  enabled  Him  so 
to  constitute  man,  and  to  ordain  such  laws  for  his  govern- 
ment, as  to  meet  the  exact  requirements  under  every 
possible  contingency,  without  addition,  amendment,  alter- 
ation, or  abatement.  In  this  perfect  work  is  the  strongest 
possible  manifestation  of  God's  equal  justice  and  goodness 
to  all  men.  The  high  and  the  humble  are  alike  amenable 
to  His  unalterable  laws;  and  those  laws  are  in  exact 
accordance  with  man's  best  interests. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  BIBLE  CRITICISM 

GOD'S  instructions  to  man  through  Nature,  in  relation 
to  his  duties  here,  are  so  plain  and  unmistakable 
that  they  cannot  but  be  understood  alike  by  all  men,  in 
all  ages  of  the  world.  Hence  the  inference  is  irresistible 
that  whatever  is  claimed  to  be  a  revelation  from  God  in 
relation  to  man's  duty,  whether  in  and  through  the  Bible, 
by  miracles,  or  through  any  other  means  whatsoever,  if 
it  be  not  so  plain  and  devoid  of  obscurity  as  to  be  under- 
stood, in  this  way,  by  all  men,  cannot  have  emanated 
from  God. 

No  man  is  bound  to  accept,  as  true,  any  averment  in 
the  name  of  religion  which  is  repugnant  to  the  dictates 
of  his  own  conscience,  or  inconsistent  with  the  justice  and 
goodness  of  God.  It  was  never  intended  that  anything 
should  be  received  as  infallibly  true,  except  that  which 
we  perceive  intuitively,  or  which  is  palpable  from  observa- 
tion, or  subject  to  unmistakable  demonstration. 

The  character  of  the  proof  of  the  three  following  as- 
sumptions is  such  that  universal  assent  is  given  to  them  ; 
first,  the  truth  of  the  existence  of  the  One  God,  Jehovah ; 
second,  the  immortality  of  the  soul ;  third,  that  it  is  man's 
duty  and  interest  to  conform  to  the  moral  and  other 
laws  pertaining  to  his  being. 

Strong  conclusions  ought  not  to  be  drawn  from  im- 
probable statements  or  imperfect  premises.  God  requires 
that  we  should  believe  only  so  much  as  can  be  fairly 
deduced  from  the  premises,  or  only  so  much  as  the  cred- 
ibility of  the  statement  warrants. 

143 


144         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

God  has  given  us  our  mental  faculties  to  enable  us  to 
discriminate  between  truth  and  error,  and  he  who  makes 
not  this  use  of  them  arrives  at  truth,  if  at  all,  by  mere 
chance. 

We  cannot  come  to  a  full  conviction  of  the  truth  of  a 
proposition,  except  on  evidence  which  we  deem  full  and 
infallible.  Every  substantial  structure  must  have  a  found- 
ation proportionally  substantial. 

Maintaining  these  axioms,  we  now  proceed  to  remark 
upon  the  Bible,  assuming  that  if  in  its  entire  scope  it  be 
a  true  revelation  from  God,  as  Christian  theology  claims 
it  to  be, — whether  its  contents  be  derived  from  natural  or 
supernatural  sources,  or  in  part  from  each, — there  should 
be  perfect  harmony  throughout.  No  one  can,  consist- 
ently, object  to  subjecting  the  claimed  truth  of  the  Bible 
to  the  most  rigid  test,  either  by  comparing  its  various 
parts,  one  with  the  other,  or  with  the  established  facts  of 
Nature,  or  with  the  moral  consciousness  of  man ;  or  by 
any  other  available  mode  of  investigation.  The  Bible 
should  be  able  to  withstand  the  most  rigid  scrutiny, 
when  viewed  in  connection  with  whatever  truths  may 
serve  to  throw  light  upon  it ;  and  it  should  be  proof 
against  such  logical  deductions  as  may  be  brought  to 
bear  against  it. 

We  believe  the  Bible  to  be  true  only  so  far  as  its  teach- 
ings are  in  accordance  with  the  teachings  of  God  to  all 
mankind,  through  their  natural  faculties,  holding  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  supernatural  revelation.  We 
believe  also  that  all  pretended  deviations  from  the  order 
which  God  established  at  the  beginning  are  unproved, 
and  have  their  origin  and  advocacy  in  human  ignorance 
or  fraud.  Evidence  of  this  is  furnished  most  abundantly 
in  Bible  record,  as  we  shall  attempt  to  show.  Bible  au- 
thority will  also  be  claimed  as  legitimate  for  the  purpose 
of  controverting  dogmas  and  doctrines  that  are  professedly 
founded  on  its  contents. 


Vagueness  of  Prophecies  145 

VAGUENESS   OF   PROPHECIES 

All  the  prophecies,  and  most  of  the  parables  of  Jesus, 
are  so  extremely  vague  and  uncertain  in  their  meaning 
(if  any  meaning  they  have)  as  to  be  susceptible  of  innum- 
erable interpretations,  all  equally  plausible,  if  compared 
one  with  another ;  and  yet  not  one  of  the  constructions 
put  upon  the  Bible  text  is  sufficiently  plain  to  be  for  a 
moment  relied  on  as  a  guide  to  that  duty  and  faith  upon 
which,  the  Churches  aver,  hangs  man's  eternal  welfare. 
And  even  those  portions  of  the  Bible  which  are  less  ob- 
scure than  some  to  which  we  have  alluded,  are  made  to 
have  a  far-fetched  spiritual  significance,  totally  at  variance 
with  the  wording.  This  answers  a  double  purpose.  First,  it 
rescues  the  dogmas,  creeds,  and  theologies  of  the  Churches 
and  clergy  partially  from  discredit  and  overthrow ;  and 
secondly,  whenever  a  figurative  mode  of  expression  is  sub- 
stituted for  the  plain  meaning  of  words,  it  operates  so  that 
there  can  be  no  end  to  equivocation  and  misrepresenta- 
tion. Hence,  each  of  the  many  sects  finds  material  for  a 
specious  building  up  its  respective  tenets,  and  each  can 
make  it  appear  that  its  church  is  the  only  gate  through 
which  to  pass  on  to  eternal  bliss.  None  are  wanting  in 
zeal  in  pushing  their  peculiar  views  (all  of  which  depart 
more  or  less  from  the  early  teachings  of  Jesus),  solely  for 
the  love  of  the  dear  people ;  and  yet  they  are  ever  mind- 
ful of  the  toll  which  the  wayfarer  must  pay  at  their  gate. 
Let  us  look  at  a  few  examples  of  this  mode  of  inter- 
pretation. 

The  plan  of  salvation  taught  by  the  Churches  is  through 
faith  in  the  Divinity  of  Jesus.  This  involves  the  question 
whether  the  prophets  were  or  were  not  supernaturally 
endowed,  and  enabled  to  designate,  centuries  beforehand, 
the  identical  person  who  afterwards  was  claimed  to  be 
both  God  and  man,  co-equal  with  Jehovah  ;  and  whether 
Jesus  was  he  whom  they  designated  as  that  person. 


146         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

In  order  to  prove  that  he  was,  resort  is  had  to  compli- 
cated prophecies,  visions,  dark  sayings,  and  dreams,  all  of 
them  most  vague  and  uncertain  in  their  interpretation  — 
if  indeed  they  have  any  definite  meaning.  This  very 
much  confuses  Church  teaching  ;  but  it  holds  church-goers 
in  wonderment  and  awe  at  the  profundity  of  the  Teacher 
who  claims  to  penetrate  and  expound  this  deep,  and  to 
them  unfathomable,  system  —  a  system  from  which  it  is 
claimed  that  most  vital  truths  are  extracted,  and  without  a 
knowledge  of  which  truths,  and  the  aid  of  their  Teachers, 
they  —  the  less  knowing  —  are  led  to  believe  that  they 
would  be  irrevocably  lost. 

As  to  the  visions,  dreams,  and  prophetic  utterances  of 
mere  men,  as  mediums  for  promulgating  laws  that  are  to 
be  accepted  and  binding  on  other  men,  some  few  remarks 
may  be  pertinent.  A  man  declares  that  God  has  super- 
naturally  revealed  to  him  a  new  law,  to  be  obeyed  by  all 
other  men ;  and  that  God  has  attached  to  the  neglect  of 
said  law  the  penalty  of  everlasting  torment.  Now  how 
can  we  know  this  to  be  true,  without  supernatural  revela- 
tion to  assure  us  that  the  prophet  himself  bears  a  true 
message  from  God  ?  It  is  the  essence  of  a  law  that  he 
who  is  commanded  to  obey  should  have  a  knowledge  of 
the  authority  of  him  who  promulgates  that  law.  But 
there  is  no  intuition  or  natural  sense  within  us  tending  to 
the  recognition  of  these  prophecies,  utterances,  dreams, 
and  vision,  as  being  from  God.  Hence  we  are  not  bound 
to  obey  what  are  called  supernatural  revelations,  having  no 
reliable  evidence  of  their  truth,  further  than  the  mere 
assertion  of  him  who  claims  to  have  a  message  from  God. 

Now,  if  God  ever  speaks  to  man  supernaturally  (which 
we  feel  assured  He  never  does),  the  fact  can  only  be  known 
by  those  to  whom  God  has  so  spoken.  No  man  can  pos- 
sibly bring  home  to  another's  understanding,  how  he  can 
have  been  spoken  to  directly  and  supernaturally,  unless 
the  one  to  whom  he  addresses  himself  has  also  been 


Supernatural  Inspiration  Incredible    14? 

spoken  to  supernaturally.  If  a  man  perceive  the  course 
which  he  supposes  to  be  proper  for  himself  and  others  to 
pursue,  through  his  intuition,  conscience,  or  natural  sense, 
it  is  easy  to  explain  to  another  how  God  communicated 
this,  His  will,  because  God  has  in  like  manner  so  commun- 
icated with  all  men.  In  this  way  we  can  give  more  or 
less  credit  to  communications  coming  through  others, 
when  they  say  that  those  communications  were  received 
in  a  natural  way :  yet  only  when  they  bear  evidence  of 
having  been  so  received,  and  in  proportion  to  the  credi- 
bility of  the  person  ;  and  so  far  as  the  character  of  what 
is  communicated  may  be  consistent  with  reason.  But  if 
a  man  says  he  has  been  supernaturally  inspired  to  com- 
municate God's  will  to  men,  and  he  communicates  that 
which  is  a  new  thing,  unheard  of  before  by  any  one, 
strange,  and  not  in  itself  in  conformity  with  man's  natural 
reason,  intuitions,  instincts,  and  conscience — is  it  obliga- 
tory on  any  second  person  to  shape  his  conduct  in  accord- 
ance with  such  pretended  supernatural  communication? 
What  possible  claim  can  such  a  man  have  on  the  credulity 
of  others  as  having  truly  received  from  God  a  correct  ex- 
position of  His  will? 

God  has  shown  —  and  beyond  the  ability  of  man  to 
throw  a  shadow  of  doubt  on  the  subject  —  that  He  makes 
His  will  and  laws  for  the  government  of  all  lower  animals 
perfectly  efficient.  His  ends  and  purposes,  through  the 
instincts  and  intuitions  implanted  in  each  respective  race, 
at  the  first,  operating  uniformly  and  universally,  are,  we 
have  a  right  to  conclude,  exactly  suited  to  the  bringing 
about  of  the  results  which  He  intended  at  the  creation. 
That  this  analogy  holds  good  in  relation  to  man,  may  be 
doubted  by  some,  but  cannot  be  disproved.  No  good 
reason  can  be  advanced  why  God  should  govern  all  the 
lower  animals  by  a  mode  entirely  in  accordance  with  His 
perfect  foreknowledge  and  infinite  power,  and  yet  govern 
mankind  in  a  way  most  palpably  inferior,  so  much  so  as 


148          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

to  require  (according  to  popular  theology)  that  each  one 
of  the  human  family  should  report  to  God  by  words  of 
mouth  such  special  amendments  to  His  general  laws  as 
they  may  think  necessary  to  their  individual  welfare. 
Now  this  is  equivalent  to  attributing  to  God  an  absence 
of  that  foresight,  power,  and  infinite  perfection  which  He 
has  made  so  manifest  throughout  all  His  work.  We  are, 
therefore,  under  the  thorough  conviction  that  God  gov- 
erns man  by  His  immutable  laws,  first  established,  oper- 
ating alike  upon  every  individual,  for  his  best  interest, 
and  requiring  no  alteration  or  amendment.  This  alone 
is  consistent  with  God's  foreknowledge,  justice,  power, 
goodness,  and  majesty. 

All  the  prophecies  which  admit  of  a  definite  construc- 
tion, both  as  to  the  things  predicted  and  the  time  of  their 
coming  to  pass,  have  entirely  failed  to  come  to  pass.  The 
following  furnishes  an  example :  "  And  as  he  sat  upon  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  the  disciples  came  unto  him  privately, 
saying,  Tell  us  when  shall  these  things  be,  and  what 
shall  be  the  sign  of  thy  coming,  and  of  the  end  of  the 
world  ?  "  (Matthew  xxiv.,  3).  The  answer  to  these  ques- 
tions, we  may  fairly  infer,  is  contained  in  the  following 
language  made  use  of  by  Jesus :  "  Immediately  after  the 
tribulation  of  those  days  shall  the  sun  be  darkened,  and 
the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars  shall  fall 
from  heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the  heavens  shall  be 
shaken.  And  then  shall  appear  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven, 
and  then  shall  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  mourn,  and  they 
shall  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven 
with  power  and  great  glory.  And  he  shall  send  his  angels 
with  a  great  sound  of  a  trumpet ;  and  they  shall  gather 
together  his  elect  from  the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of 
heaven  to  the  other.  Now  learn  a  parable  of  the  fig  tree. 
When  his  branch  is  yet  tender  and  putteth  forth  leaves, 
ye  know  that  summer  is  nigh.  So  likewise  ye,  when  ye 
shall  see  all  these  things,  know  that  it  is  near,  even  at 


Failure  of  Precise  Predictions         149 

the  doors.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  This  generation  shall 
not  pass  till  all  these  things  be  fulfilled  "  (Matthew  xxiv., 
29-34).  And  again :  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  There  be •- 
some  standing  here  which  shall  not  taste  of  death  until 
they  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  his  kingdom  "  (Mat- 
thew xvi.,  28).  Now  these  prophecies  admit  of  no  pre- 
varication or  shuffling,  as  is  the  case  with  most  of  them  ; 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  when  Jesus  made  the 
prediction  that  his  second  coming  in  person  in  the  clouds 
of  heaven,  with  power  and  great  glory,  should  take  place 
before  the  generation  of  men  to  whom  he  was  then 
speaking  should  all  pass  away,  he  fully  believed  it  would 
be  fulfilled  within  the  prescribed  time,  which  is  distinctly 
marked  in  the  most  unmistakable  terms.  The  failure  is 
complete.  No  person  can  argue  to  the  contrary,  with  any 
show  of  candour.  This,  of  itself,  in  all  fairness,  is  fatal  to 
the  pretensions  of  Jesus'  Divinity,  and  is  highly  damag- 
ing to  all  his  claims  based  upon  the  prophecies  of  the  Old 
Testament.  Strauss  remarks  on  this  subject ;  "  Here  we 
stand  face  to  face  with  a  decisive  point.  The  ancient 
Church  clung  to  this  part  of  the  doctrine  of  Jesus,  in  literal 
signification ;  nay,  it  was,  properly  speaking,  built  upon 
this  foundation,  since  without  the  expectation  of  his  near 
return,  no  Christian  whatever  would  have  come  into  ex- 
istence. For  us,  Jesus  exists  only  as  a  human  being.  To 
a  human  being  no  such  thing  as  he  here  prophesied  of 
himself  could  happen.  If  he  did  prophesy  it  of  himself, 
and  expect  it  himself,  it  proves  that  he  conceived  himself 
to  be  that  which  he  was  not." 

"  All  these  things  spake  Jesus  unto  the  multitude  in 
parables  ;  and  without  a  parable  spake  he  not  unto  them : 
That  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet, 
saying,  I  will  open  my  mouth  in  parables ;  I  will  utter 
things  which  have  been  kept  secret  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world  "  (Matthew  xiii.,  34,  35).  Here  he,  who  is 
claimed  as  God,  is  represented  as  making  it  a  studied  point 


150         One  Religion:  Many  Creeds 

to  shape  his  conduct  in  accordance  with  prophecy.  But 
while  Jesus  shaped  his  sayings  and  conduct  specially  with 
a  view  of  making  them  thus  conform,  his  followers  put  a 
construction  on  them  not  warranted  by  the  text,  and  thus 
gained  for  him  that  credence  without  which  he  would  not 
now  stand  before  Christendom  as  he  does. 

w,  as  to  the  parable  of  the  Lost  Sheep  :  "  Then  drew 
near  unto  him  all  the  publicans  and  sinners,  for  to  hear 
him.  And  the  Pharisees  and  scribes  murmured,  saying, 
This  man  receiveth  sinners  and  eateth  with  them.  And 
he  spake  this  parable  unto  them,  saying,  What  man  of  you, 
having  an  hundred  sheep,  if  he  lose  one  of  them,  doth  not 
leave  the  ninety  and  nine  in  the  wilderness,  and  go  after 
that  which  is  lost  until  he  find  it  ?  And  when  he  hath 
found  it,  he  layeth  it  on  his  shoulders,  rejoicing.  And 
when  he  cometh  home,  he  calleth  together  his  friends  and 
neighbours,  saying  unto  them,  Rejoice  with  me,  for  I  have 
found  my  sheep  which  was  lost.  I  say  unto  you,  that 
likewise  joy  shall  be  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  re- 
penteth,  more  than  over  ninety  and  nine  just  persons 
which  need  no  repentance "  (Luke  xv.,  1-7).  This 
teaching  is  of  doubtful  utility,  if  nothing  more.  It  indi- 
cates that  a  person's  character  is  elevated  by  wrong-doing. 
God's  mode  of  reclaiming  the  erring  is  by  showing  them 
their  folly  through  the  upbraidings  of  conscience  or  by 
other  punishments,  thereby  producing  a  sense  of  degrada- 
tion or  pain  and  unhappiness.  This  produces  repentance 
and  amended  ways  by  necessity,  sooner  or  later,  and 
always  in  God's  good  time,  which  we  deem  better  than 
rejoicing  over  the  sinner,  since  it  is  God's  mode  of  train- 
ing to  virtue.  It  is  obvious  that  God's  mode  is  directly 
opposed  to  the  deductions  of  Jesus  from  the  parable  on 
this  subject. 

Again,  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son :  "  Father,  I 
have  sinned  against  heaven  and  in  thy  sight,  and  am  no 
more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son.  But  the  father  said  to 


Parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  151 

his  servants,  Bring  forth  the  best  robe,  and  put  it  on  him, 
and  put  a  ring  on  his  hand,  and  shoes  on  his  feet.  And 
bring  hither  the  fatted  calf  and  kill  it ;  and  let  us  eat  and 
be  merry.  .  .  .  Now  his  elder  son  was  in  the  field : 
and  as  he  came  and  drew  nigh  to  the  house,  he  heard 
music  and  dancing.  And  he  called  one  of  the  servants, 
and  asked  what  these  things  meant.  And  he  said  unto 
him,  Thy  brother  is  come,  and  thy  father  hath  killed  the 
fatted  calf,  because  he  hath  received  him  safe  and  sound. 
And  he  was  angry,  and  would  not  go  in  :  therefore  came 
his  father  out  and  intreated  him.  And  he  answering, 
said  to  his  father,  Lo,  these  many  years  do  I  serve  thee, 
neither  transgressed  I  at  any  time  thy  commandment ; 
and  yet  thou  never  gavest  me  a  kid,  that  I  might  make 
merry  with  my  friends.  But  as  soon  as  this  thy  son  was 
come,  which  hath  devoured  thy  living  with  harlots,  thou 
hast  killed  for  him  the  fatted  calf  "  (Luke  xv.,  21-23,  25- 
30).  This  represents  wrong-doing,  and  repentance  there- 
for, as  being  more  commendable  than  a  uniform  course 
of  correct  conduct.  This  is  not  in  accordance  with 
the  self-respect  which  God  has  implanted  within  the 
nature  of  man,  neither  is  it  in  accordance  with  the  aggre- 
gate sense  of  right.  The  human  father  of  the  parable 
may  be  supposed  to  be  in  doubt  as  to  whether  his  erring 
son  would  ever  return  to  duty  and  to  his  home,  and  may 
be  considered  as  acting  but  the  natural  part  of  a  father, 
in  rejoicing  at  the  unexpected  return  of  his  wayward  child. 
But  God,  knowing  and  controlling  all  things,  can  never 
(like  the  human  father)  be  in  doubt,  can  never  be  sur- 
prised, can  never  rejoice  over  an  unexpected  occurrence. 
Hence,  the  parable  here  in  view  is  inappropriate  when 
applied  in  this  way. 

Furthermore :  "  There  was  in  a  city  a  judge,  which 
feared  not  God,  neither  regarded  man.  And  there  was  a 
widow  in  that  city ;  and  she  came  unto  him  saying, 
Avenge  me  of  mine  adversary.  And  he  would  not  for 


152          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

awhile  but  afterward  he  said  within  himself :  Though  I 
fear  not  God,  nor  regard  man,  yet,  because  this  widow 
troubleth  me,  I  will  avenge  her,  lest  by  her  continual 
coming  she  weary  me.  And  the  Lord  said,  Hear  what  the 
unjust  judge  saith. 

"  And  shall  not  God  avenge  his  own  elect  which  cry 
day  and  night  unto  him,  though  he  bear  long  with  them  ? 
I  tell  you  he  will  avenge  them  speedily  "  (Luke  xviii.,  2- 
8). 

Now  the  prominent  teaching  of  this  parable  is  that 
God  will  avenge  only  His  own  elect,  and  that  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  getting  rid  of  the  annoyance  of  their  long- 
continued  importunities.  But  how  much  does  this  view 
conflict  with  that  unbounded  goodness  and  long  forbear- 
ance which  all  Christians  of  the  present  day  ascribe  to 
God  !  If  it  be  said  that  it  was  designed  to  applaud  and 
encourage  long-continued  pleading  and  importuning  for 
the  redress  of  grievances,  or  the  avenging  ourselves  of  our 
adversaries,  then  we  answer  that  it  is  not  in  accordance 
with  the  following  teaching  of  Jesus :  "  Your  Father 
knoweth  what  things  ye  have  need  of  before  ye  ask 
Him  "  ;  "  Use  no  vain  repetitions  "  ;  "  Not  every  one 
that  saith  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven."  All  which  passages  go  to  prove  that 
it  is  works,  and  not  much  speaking,  that  are  acceptable 
to  God. 

And  still  another :  When  a  certain  rich  ruler  asked 
Jesus  what  he  must  do  to  inherit  "  eternal  life,"  his  reply 
was  to  this  effect :  "  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go  and  sell 
all  that  thou  hast  and  give  it  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt 
have  treasure  in  heaven  ;  and  come  and  follow  me.  For, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  A  rich  man  shall  hardly  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  "  (Matthew  xix.,  21,  23). 
Again,  "  It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of 
a  needle,  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom 


Erroneous  Deductions  153 

of  God.  When  his  disciples  heard  this,  they  were  ex- 
ceedingly amazed,  saying,  Who  then  can  be  saved  ? " 
(Matthew  xix.  24,  25).  And  again :  In  the  parable  of  the 
rich  man  and  Lazarus,  the  following  occurs :  **  Son,  re- 
member that  thou  in  thy  life-time  receivedst  thy  good 
things,  and  likewise  Lazarus  evil  things ;  but  now  he  is 
comforted,  and  thou  art  tormented  "  (Luke  xvi.,  25). 
"  Blessed  be  ye  poor,  for  yours  is  the  kingdom  of  God. 
"  But  woe  unto  you  that  are  rich,  for  ye  have  received 
your  consolation  "  (Luke  vi.,  20,  24).  The  teaching  of 
these  parables  and  sayings  can  have  but  one  object,  that 
is,  to  represent  poverty  and  suffering  as  virtues,  and  the 
true  road  to  Heaven,  and  to  make  riches  an  insurmount- 
able obstacle  to  future  happiness.  Self-preservation  is  the 
strongest  law  which  God  has  implanted  within  man  ;  and 
out  of  this  grows  the  incentive  to  acquire,  and  store  up 
the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of  life ;  the  legitimate  doing 
of  which  increases  a  man's  usefulness  to  himself  and 
fellow-men.  This  is  so  universally  recognised  that  the 
instructions  of  Jesus  on  the  subject  are  entirely  disre- 
garded by  the  disciples  of  Christianity,  not  excepting  the 
clergy,  which  practically  falsifies  the  Bible,  whereof  it  is 
said  every  word  must  be  received  as  truth. 

Again :  "  These  twelve  Jesus  sent  forth,  and  com- 
manded them,  saying,  Go  not  into  the  way  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  into  any  city  of  the  Samaritans  enter  ye  not ; 
But  go  rather  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  House  of  Israel  " 
(Matthew  x.,  5,  6).  "  I  thank  thee,  O  Father,"  said 
Jesus,  "  because  thou  hast  hid  these  things  from  the  wise 
and  prudent,  and  hast  revealed  them  unto  babes  "  (Mat- 
thew xi.,  25).  This  is  inconsistent  with  the  idea  that 
Jesus'  mission  was  to  raise  all  who  fell  through  Adam, 
and  of  his  being  the  Saviour  of  all  mankind. 

Again  :  "  But  I  say  unto  you,  Love  your  enemies,  bless 
them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and 
pray  for  them  which  despitefully  use  you  and  persecute 


154         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

you  "  (Matthew  v.,  44).  "  Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath 
been  said,  an  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth. 
But  I  say  unto  you,  That  ye  resist  not  evil ;  but  whoso- 
ever shall  smite  thee  on  thy  right  cheek  turn  to  him  the 
other  also.  And  if  any  man  will  sue  thee  at  the  law,  and 
take  away  thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloak  also.  And 
whosoever  shall  compel  thee  to  go  a  mile,  go  with  him 
twain.  Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee,  and  from  him  that 
would  borrow  of  thee  turn  not  thou  away "  (Matthew 
v.,  38-42).  These  injunctions  are  at  variance  with  the 
well  defined  characteristics  of  human  nature,  and  conse- 
quently unsuited  to  the  practices  of  every-day  life,  incon- 
sistent with  self-preservation,  and  a  becoming  dignity  and 
self-respect. 

Lastly:  "Now,  when  Jesus  was  risen  early  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  he  appeared  first  to  Mary  Magdalene. 
.  .  .  Afterward  he  appeared  unto  the  eleven.  .  .  . 
And  he  said  unto  them,  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature.  He  that  believeth 
and  is  baptised  shall  be  saved,  but  he  that  believeth  not 
shall  be  damned.  And  these  signs  shall  follow  them  that 
believe.  In  my  name  shall  they  cast  out  devils ;  they 
shall  speak  with  new  tongues.  They  shall  take  up 
serpents ;  and  if  they  drink  any  deadly  thing  it  shall  not 
hurt  them  ;  they  shall  lay  hands  on  the  sick,  and  they 
shall  recover  "  (Mark  xvi.,  9,  14—18).  Now,  since  nothing 
is  said  to  the  contrary,  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  these 
things  were  spoken  by  Jesus  as  pertaining  to  all  future 
time.  But  will  any  one  pretend  that  in  these  days  there 
is  a  verification  of  the  truth  of  these  declarations  ? 
Rather,  is  it  not  apparent  that  the  reverse  is  the  case  ? 

A  man  born  in  a  Mohammedan  country  believes  in 
Mohammed.  A  Chinese  believes  in  Confucius ;  and  so 
with  the  followers  of  every  other  system  of  theology  on 
the  face  of  the  globe.  All  or  most  of  the  founders  of  the 
different  systems  claim  supernatural  origin  and  endow- 


Love  to  God  and  Man  155 

ments  for  themselves,  or  are  believed  to  have  possessed 
them,  by  their  followers.  People  who  are  educated  to 
believe  in  a  particular  faith,  think  that  on  such  belief 
depends  their  salvation.  Now,  could  we  have  any  better 
proof  than  this  that  one  has  as  little  foundation  as  the 
other  to  rest  upon — not  even  excepting  the  Christian 
theology?  There  is  no  merit  or  demerit,  no  salvation  or 
condemnation,  either  for  belief  or  non-belief,  in  any  of 
these  theologies.  God  is  too  just  and  good  to  ordain  that 
the  doom  of  an  immortal  soul  shall  be  determined  by  the 
merest  accidental  circumstance,  in  no  way  involving  the 
voluntary  action  or  accountability  of  the  individual  soul. 

The  early  teachings  of  Jesus  are  comprised  in  His  en- 
joining the  duty  of  love  to  God  and  man,  which  he 
repeatedly  says  is  all  that  is  necessary  for  salvation. 
These  teachings,  however  good  in  themselves,  had  nothing 
new  or  peculiar  in  them,  but  were  taught,  substantially 
and  with  equal  if  not  with  greater  force  and  fulness,  by 
Zoroaster,  Confucius,  Buddha,  Mohammed,  and  all  the 
other  founders  of  theology  and  great  teachers  of  religion 
and  morals.  Did  not  the  Greek  and  Roman  philosophers, 
Aristotle,  Socrates,  Plato,  Democritus,  Pythagoras,  Epi- 
curus, Pindar,  and  Solon,  recognise  as  a  rule  of  conduct 
the  great  principles  of  moral  deportment  contained  in  the 
early  teachings  of  Christ,  to  wit,  love  of  God  and  good 
works  ?  Indeed,  all  nations  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  as 
far  back  as  history  will  carry  us,  have  in  substance  advo- 
cated and  been  governed  by  this  religion,  which  is  com- 
mon to  all. 

Every  doctrine,  creed,  theology,  dogma,  or  faith  that 
has  ever  been  claimed  to  be,  or  which  has  gone  by  the 
name  of  religion,  other  than  natural  religion,  has  been 
embraced  by  a  portion,  only,  of  the  different  nations  and 
peoples  of  the  earth  ;  springing  up  during  one  age  of  the 
world,  gone  in  the  next.  On  the  contrary,  all  agree,  and 
at  all  times  and  in  all  places,  that  love  to  God  and  love  to 


156         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

man,  and  the  conforming  to  the  moral  law,  is  the  bounden 
duty  of  every  accountable  member  of  the  human  family. 
But  here  the  boundary  of  harmony  on  religious  subjects 
is  reached.  This  universal  religion  has  been,  and  is, 
preached  and  urged  upon  the  observance  of  mankind,  in 
connection  with  thousands  of  different  doctrines,  creeds, 
theologies,  ceremonies,  and  forms,  which  are  claimed  as 
essential  parts  of  worship,  each  sect  contending  for  its 
own  peculiar  views,  in  relation  to  doctrines,  creeds,  and 
theologies,  with  such  pertinacity  and  bitterness  as  to 
cause  wars  that  have  resulted  in  the  massacre  of  millions 
upon  millions  of  human  beings,  and  to  continue  to  be 
the  source  of  most  lamentable  contentions  and  crimina- 
tions, and  of  irreligious  conduct  generally.  It  is  submitted, 
therefore,  whether  this  state  of  facts,  which  is  verified  by 
history,  does  not  indicate,  unmistakably,  what  it  is  that 
constitutes  the  religion  which  God  intended  and  insured 
for  universal  adoption  by  nations  and  individuals,  or,  in 
other  words,  whether  it  does  not  furnish  a  sure  criterion, 
by  means  of  which  the  wheat  and  the  chaff  may  be  dis- 
tinguished each  from  the  other. 

The  principal  written  codes  connected  with  the  wor- 
ship of  God  in  various  countries,  which  have  been  more 
or  less  the  cause  of  disastrous  wars  and  disgraceful  feuds 
among  men,  are  the  following :  the  Zend  Avesta  of  the 
Parsees;  the  Vini  Pidimot  of  the  Burmese  Empire;  the 
Rig  Veda  of  the  Hindoos;  the  Koran  of  the  Mohamme- 
dans ;  and  the  Bible  of  the  Christians.  But  we  would 
ask,  is  it  at  all  a  part  of  the  duty  which  God  exacts  of 
man,  to  pay  homage  to,  or  to  worship,  any  of  the  persons, 
whom  these  books  or  records  glorify  ?  Godama,  Moham- 
med, Zoroaster,  Buddha,  and  Jesus,  all  claim  to  be  either 
gods  or  supernaturally  endowed  by  God.  Which  of  them 
shall  we  acknowledge  ?  We  would  submit  also,  that,  where- 
as the  sun,  the  moon,  the  stars,  and  many  other  symbols, 
have  been  adopted  by  various  sects,  either  as  substantial 


Simplicity  of  True  Religion  157 

parts  or  as  adjuncts  of  worship,  so  also  does  the  Christian 
theology  require  divine  honour  be  paid  to  the  Virgin 
Mary,  and  that  three  Gods  be  worshipped  instead  of  the 
One  living  and  true  God.  Wherein,  we  ask,  lies  the  dif- 
ference ?  May  there  not  be  a  good  side  and  an  evil  side, 
in  all  these  cases  alike — good,  inasmuch  as  the  symbol 
leads  up  to  the  God  above  it  —  evil,  whenever  and  wher- 
ever devotion  stops  short  at  the  symbol  ? 

It  is  very  important  that  the  truth  on  this  subject 
should  be  determined,  and  be  set  forth  by  those  among  us 
who  make  a  profession  of  teaching.  But,  bound  by  the 
rules  of  their  church  and  constrained  by  habit,  the  clergy 
advocate  a  certain  set  of  special  tenets,  even  whilst  the 
most  learned  and  sensible  men  among  them  acknowledge, 
in  their  own  hearts,  that  what  may  be  called  the  techni- 
calities of  their  faith  are  not  based  on  reliable  evidence. 
Intelligent  observation  of  God's  dealings  with  the  human 
race  around  them,  and  a  careful  study  of  the  record  of 
past  ages,  lead  them  to  the  just  conclusion  that  the  reli- 
gion which  God  teaches  is  love  for  Himself  and  His  laws, 
and  the  golden  rule,  "  Do  unto  others  as  you  would  they 
should  do  unto  you."  Yet  they  lack  the  moral  courage 
to  preach  this  sublime  and  simple  doctrine,  preferring,  in 
deference  to  custom  and  in  fear  of  giving  offence,  to  reit- 
erate biblical  stories  that  are  disproved  by  investigation, 
or  that  have  much  in  common  with  other  creeds  which 
they  affect  to  despise. 

And  yet  how  pathetically  do  these  same  Christian 
clergymen  appeal  for  pecuniary  aid,  to  the  end  that  they 
may  convert  the  heathen  !  Their  object,  meanwhile,  is 
not  to  promulgate  the  practical  religion  which  Jesus 
taught  with  such  wonderful  effect  both  by  precept  and 
example,  and  which  consists  entirely  of  love  to  God  and 
good  will  to  man  ;  neither  is  it  to  inculcate  morals  based 
on  good  works  taught  in  the  law  of  God.  It  is  their  own 
Christian  theology  which  they  are  bent  upon  instilling 


158          One  Religion:  Many  Creeds 

into  the  heathen  mind,  its  main  point  being  a  theoretical 
belief  in  man's  fall  through  Adam,  and  resurrection 
through  Jesus.  It  is  evident,  or  it  should  be,  indeed,  to 
all  reasonable  minds,  that  God  sent  His  only  true  and 
all-sufficient  religion  to  the  heathen  in  common  with  all 
men.  Else  what  becomes  of  all  those  who  either  never 
heard  of  Jesus,  or,  if  they  did,  have  no  more  desire  to 
believe  in  him  than  a  Christian  has  to  believe  in  Moham- 
med, or  to  become  an  Israelite  ? 

The  theology  —  for  means  of  sending  which  to  the 
heathen  each  creed,  sect,  and  denomination  of  Christians 
so  pathetically  pleads — consists  of  dogmas  and  theologies 
tacked  on  to  the  pure  religion  of  Jesus  and  of  Nature. 
Each  has  a  different  dogma,  each  has  variations  in  its 
faith.  How  are  the  heathen  to  choose  between  one  and 
another? 

In  all  countries,  whether  heathen  or  Christian,  there 
are  those  who  mingle  the  spurious  with  the  good  ;  conse- 
quently heathen  teachers  have  false  gods  and  false  the- 
ologies of  their  own,  which  they  trade  in,  with  equal 
results,  as  the  Christians.  They  see  that  the  same  is  done 
in  Christian  countries,  and  they  laugh  at  the  idea  of  a 
comparatively  small  number  of  Christians  dictating  creeds 
and  theologies  to  the  balance  of  mankind,  quadrupling 
them  in  number,  and  as  likely  to  be  right  as  themselves. 
Hence  it  is  just  as  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  heathen 
should  attempt  to  benefit  Christian  communities  by  send- 
ing them  their  Bibles,  which  contain  moral  codes  and 
precepts  equally  as  good,  and,  in  fact,  dogmas  and  theolo- 
gies as  ingeniously  contrived,  as  well  as  authenticated, 
and  as  plausible  in  their  claim  to  Divine  origin  as  the 
Christian  Bible.  Their  oracles,  too,  whose  names  are 
taken  to  designate  the  various  theologies  which  prevail 
among  them,  have  as  valid  a  claim,  by  miracles  and  pro- 
phecies, to  supernatural  endowments  (or  to  Divinity 
itself)  as  have  the  Christian  Churches  on  behalf  of  Jesus. 


Christ's  Real  Teachings  159 

But  it  is  not  Jesus  himself  who  is  responsible  for  the  sys- 
tem which  has  been  engrafted  on  his  name.  It  is  his 
professed  followers  who  have  perverted  his  teaching.  His 
answer  was,  when  he  was  asked,  "  Master,  which  is  the 
great  commandment  in  the  law  ?  " — "  Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  mind.  This  is  the  first  and  great  com- 
mandment. And  the  second  is  like  unto  it.  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.  On  these  two  command- 
ments hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets  (Matthew  xxii., 
37-40).  And  when,  again,  he  was  asked,  "  Good  Master, 
what  good  thing  shall  I  do,  that  I  may  have  eternal  life?  " 
his  answer  was,  "  Why  callest  thou  me  good  ?  there  is 
none  good  but  one,  that  is  God :  but  if  thou  wilt  enter 
into  life,  keep  the  commandments.  He  saith  unto  him, 
Which  ?  Jesus  said :  Thou  shalt  do  no  murder,  Thou 
shalt  not  commit  adultery,  Thou  shalt  not  steal,  Thou 
shalt  not  bear  false  witness.  Honour  thy  father  and  thy 
mother;  and,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself" 
(Matthew  xix.,  16-19).  In  all  this  he  does  not  require, 
but  actually  declines,  having  any  honour  done  to  himself 
as  a  condition  of  entering  into  eternal  life.  All  that  he 
requires  is,  that  a  man  should  love  God,  the  Father,  and 
do  those  good  works  which  He  prescribes  for  him  to  do. 
If  there  had  been  anything  else,  would  not  Jesus  have 
told  him  what  it  was?  It  was  a  most  momentous  ques- 
tion which  had  been  asked  of  him.  It  was  necessary, 
therefore,  that  he  should  be  most  precise  and  accurate  in 
answering  it ;  and  yet  he  did  not  say,  "  Believe  in  me ; 
through  me  alone,  and  the  shedding  of  my  blood,  canst 
thou  be  saved,"  but  simply,  "  Keep  the  commandments." 
"  Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  said  he,  on  another  oc- 
casion, "but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is 
in  heaven"  (Matthew  vii.,  21).  And  this  will  of  the 
Father  he  exemplified  in  his  own  life.  He  "  went  about 


160         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

all  the  cities  and  villages,  teaching  in  their  synagogues, 
and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing 
every  sickness  and  every  disease  among  the  people " 
(Matthew  ix.,  35). 

The  worship  of  the  Father  alone,  by  good  works,  and 
not  by  praying  to  and  worshipping  him,  Jesus,  was  the 
requisite,  as  he  conceived,  for  entering  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  Jesus,  in  this,  practised  what  he  preached. 
He  went  about  diligently  and  zealously  preaching  natural 
religion,  healing  the  sick,  and  rebuking  those  who  thought 
that  they  could  get  to  heaven  by  crying  to  him  "  Lord, 
Lord !  "  instead  of  exhibiting  in  their  daily  conduct  a  life 
of  good  works :  so  that  we  have  the  express  authority  of 
Jesus  for  saying  that  love  to  God  and  kind  offices  one 
towards  another  is  the  whole  duty  of  man,  which  again  is  in 
accordance  with  THE  FIRST  AND  ONLY  TRUE  RELIGION. 

Bible  descriptions  of  God  and  His  attributes  purport 
to  be  derived  from  God  Himself,  through  His  super- 
natural revelation  to  particular  individuals.  But  this 
revelation,  if  such  it  be,  represents  God  as  intensely  hu- 
man, both  in  form  and  character.  It  ascribes  to  Him 
many  of  the  weaknesses  and  faults,  and  much  of  the 
shortsightedness,  of  the  frailest  of  men  ;  and  it  is  totally 
unlike  the  revelation  which  He  has  made  of  Himself  to 
all  men  through  the  works  of  Nature.  He  has  written 
Himself  upon  the  broad  face  of  the  universe,  and  in  the 
depth  of  men's  souls,  in  such  legible  characters,  and  estab- 
lished such  laws  in  relation  to  man,  as  to  ensure  that  His 
will  shall  be  done  and  man's  happiness  secured  in  God's 
good  time.  In  addition  to  this,  he  has  portrayed  Him- 
self, in  every  phase  of  creation,  with  a  beauty  and 
grandeur  that  man  becomes  more  and  more  capable  of 
appreciating. 

Now,  we  ask,  shall  this  sublime  record,  which  God  has 
made  of  Himself,  be  for  a  single  moment  tarnished  by  a 
forced  conjunction  with  views  of  Him  that  are  impious  ? 


God's  Evil  Passions  161 

If  so,  let  those  suffer  the  damaging  consequences  who 
teach  such  doctrine.  Yet  we  are  told  that  these  descrip- 
tions of  the  Almighty  must  be  believed  in  as  infallibly 
true,  by  all  men,  as  a  condition  of  happiness  beyond  the 
grave.  And  what  are  they  ?  Read  what  the  writers  of 
the  Christian  Bible  say,  and  then  judge  for  yourselves. 
Very  few  quotations  will  suffice  to  show  in  what  abomin- 
able form  the  Creator  has  been  represented  by  those 
who  declared  themselves  to  be  His  messengers. 

In  the  first  place,  he  is  represented  as  being  addicted 
to  furious  anger,  and  this  to  such  a  degree  that  were  any 
of  his  creatures  to  manifest  the  same  disposition,  they 
would  be  looked  upon  as  monsters.  Take  the  following 
examples  :  "  The  fierce  anger  of  the  Lord  "  —  Numbers 
xxv.,  4;  "The  anger  of  the  Lord  shall  smoke"  —  Deut- 
eronomy xxix.,  20 ;  "  Through  the  anger  of  the  Lord  it 
came  to  pass  "  —  2  Kings  xxiv.,  20 ;  "  Let  the  Lord  be 
angry"  —Genesis  viii.,  30;  "And  provoked  the  Lord  to 
anger"  -Judges  ii.,  12;  "The  children  of  Israel  have 
only  provoked  me  to  anger  " — Jeremiah  xxxii.,  30 ;  "  And 
I  will  tread  down  the  people  in  mine  anger,  and  make 
them  drunk  in  my  fury  "  —  Isaiah  Ixiii.,  6. 

Hatred  and  a  fierce  thirst  for  vengeance  are  attributed 
to  him  in  a  similar  manner:  "I  hate  robbery  for  burnt 
offerings"  —  Isaiah  Ixi.,  8;  "Because  the  Lord  hated 
us "  -  Deuteronomy  i.,  27 ;  "  Therefore  have  I  hated 
it"  -Jeremiah  xii.,  8  ;  "  There  I  hated  them,  ...  I 
will  love  them  no  more"  —  Hosea  ix.,  15;  "Jacob  have 
I  loved,  but  Esau  have  I  hated"  —  Malachi  i.,  23.  To 
illustrate  the  Almighty's  revengeful  tendencies,  turn  to 
Exodus  xx.,  5,  where  we  are  told  that  He  will  visit  the 
iniquities  of  fathers  upon  the  children,  nay  even  upon  four 
generations  of  unborn  children ;  to  Deuteronomy  vii.,  10, 
"  He  repayeth  them  that  hate  him  to  their  face,  to 
destroy  them  " ;  to  Isaiah  xlvii.,  3,  "  I  will  take  venge- 
ance "  and  Ixiii.,  4,  "  The  day  of  vengeance  is  in  mine 


1 62          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

heart " ;  to  Romans  xii.,  9,  "  Vengeance  is  mine  "  ;  and 
especially  to  I  Samuel  xv.,  2,  3,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of 
Hosts,  I  remember  that  which  Amalek  did  to  Israel. 
Now  go  and  smite  Amalek,  and  utterly  destroy 
all  that  they  have,  and  spare  them  not ;  but  slay  both 
man  and  woman,  infant  and  suckling,  ox  and  sheep, 
camel  and  ass." 

Jealousy  also,  such  as  we  find  attributed  to  certain 
gods  and  goddesses  in  pagan  mythology,  is  set  down  as 
one  of  God's  characteristics:  "  I,  the  Lord,  thy  God,  am 
a  jealous  God" —  Exodus  xx.,  5  ;  "They  provoked  him 
to  jealousy  with  strange  gods  "  —  Deuteronomy  xxxii., 
16;  "He  is  a  jealous  God"  —  Joshua  xxiv.,  19;  "Then 
will  the  Lord  be  jealous  for  his  land  "  —  Joel  ii.,  1 8  ;  "  God 
is  jealous  and  the  Lord  revengeful  "  —  Nahum  i.,  2  ;  "  I 
am  jealous  for  Jerusalem" — Zechariah  i.,  14;  "I  will 
give  thee  blood  in  fury  and  jealousy  "  —  Ezekiel  xvi.,  38. 

Even  ignorance  is  attributed  to  the  Almighty,  the 
words  that  follow  being  put  into  His  mouth  (Genesis 
xviii.,  21):  "I  will  go  down  now,  and  see  whether  they 
have  done  altogether  according  to  the  cry  of  it  which  is 
come  unto  me,  and  if  not  I  will  know."  Job  also  repre- 
sents the  Omnipotent  as  condescending  to  ask  Satan 
about  his  doings  as  if  He  were  not  also  omniscient. 

They  presume  even,  these  writers  under  so-called  inspir- 
ation, to  speak  of  His  indulgence  in  scornful  laughter ; 
as  in  Psalm  ii.,  4,  "  He  that  sitteth  in  the  heavens  shall 
laugh,  the  Lord  shall  have  them  in  derision,"  and  again, 
lix.,  8,  "  Thou,  O  Lord,  shall  laugh  at  them,  thou  shalt 
have  all  the  heathen  in  derision." 

Fickleness  and  alternation  of  purpose,  common  human 
infirmities,  are  represented  as  among  His  peculiarities. 
In  Genesis  we  are  told  that  "  it  repented  the  Lord  that 
He  had  made  man  on  the  earth,  and  it  grieved  Him  at 
His  heart."  Yet  it  must  be  owned,  the  sacred  writers 
are  not  unanimous  in  attributing  to  God  this  tendency  to 


God's  Evil  Passions  163 

change  of  mind.  Thus,  in  Exodus  xxxii.,  14,  we  read, 
"  The  Lord  repented  the  evil  which  he  thought  to  do 
unto  his  people  "  ;  and  in  I  Samuel  xv.,  29,  "The  strength 
of  Israel  will  not  repent,  for  He  is  not  a  man  that  He 
should  repent."  It  is  written  in  Psalms  cxvi.,  45,  "  He 
repented,  according  to  the  multitude  of  His  mercies"  ;  in 
Jonah  iii.,  10,  "  God  repented  of  the  evil  that  He  had 
said  "  ;  and  in  Jeremiah  xviii.,  8,  "  If  a  nation  turn,  I  will 
repent  of  the  evil."  Yet  we  find  in  James  i.,  17,  "The 
Father  of  lights,  with  whom  is  no  variableness,  neither 
shadow  of  turning." 

It  would  perhaps  be  almost  sufficient  to  have  cited  the 
Lord's  alleged  repentance  over  the  superior  being  of  his 
own  creation,  which  the  same  authority  tells  us  He  had 
pronounced  "  very  good  "  ;  but  we  cannot  omit  to  remind 
the  reader  of  the  very  curious  story  of  Moses  pleading 
with  the  Lord,  as  it  stands  in  Exodus  xxxiii.,  7-14.  The 
Lord  told  Moses  that  the  Israelites  were  a  stiff-necked 
people,  given  up  to  idols,  and  announced  their  consequent 
fate  in  these  strange  words :  "  Now,  therefore,  let  me 
alone,  that  my  wrath  may  wax  hot  against  them,  and 
that  I  may  consume  them."  But  Moses  was  emphatic 
and  plain-spoken  in  his  remonstrance,  for  such  it  may  be 
justly  termed.  "Turn  from  thy  fierce  wrath,"  says  he, 
without  flinching,  "  and  repent  of  thy  evil  against  thy 
people."  We  know  what  ensued :  "  And  the  Lord 
repented  of  the  evil  which  he  thought  to  do  unto  his 
people." 

But  let  us  pass  on,  from  the  attempt  to  assimilate  the 
Creator  and  the  creature,  so  far  as  passions  and  sensations 
are  concerned,  and  observe  how  this  degrading  process 
has  been  applied  to  corporeal  resemblance.  Head,  feet, 
arms,  hands,  eyes,  mouth,  nostrils,  back,  and  bosom,  figure 
more  or  less  frequently  —  but  always  with  a  familiarity 
that  ought  to  be  revolting  —  in  the  biblical  descriptions 
and  allusions. 


1 64         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

"  Ephraim  is  the  strength  of  my  head,"  says  the 
Psalmist  lx.,  7;  Isaiah  lix.,  17,  puts  "a  helmet  of  sal- 
vation upon  his  head  " ;  and  St.  John  the  divine,  Reve- 
lations xix.,  12,  saw  in  a  vision  that  "on  his  head  were 
many  crowns."  The  footsteps  and  the  feet  of  the  Al- 
mighty are  often  referred  to ;  as  in  Isaiah  vi.,  2,  "  With 
twain  He  covered  his  face,  and  with  twain  He  covered  his 
feet" ;  Psalm  Ixxvii.  19,  "Thy  footsteps  are  not  known," 
and  Ixxiv.,  3,  "  Lift  up  thy  feet  "  ;  Revelations  i.,  15,  "  His 
feet  like  unto  fine  brass."  Further  than  this  we  find, 
Psalm  cviii.,  9,  the  homely  expression :  "  Over  Edom 
will  I  cast  out  my  shoe,"  coupled  with  that  other  most 
undignified  phrase,  "  Moab  is  my  wash-pot."  The  arms 
of  the  Almighty  are  often  mentioned,  sometimes  as  bared 
for  the  execution  of  His  vengeful  purposes,  sometimes  as 
opened  for  sheltering  the  righteous.  The  hand  of  the 
Lord,  as  though  it  were  a  human  hand,  appears  still  more 
frequently  in  the  sacred  Scriptures :  Psalm  Ixxv.,  8,  "  In 
the  hand  of  the  Lord  there  is  a  cup,  and  the  wine  is  red  ;  " 
I  Samuel  v.,  6,  "  But  the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  heavy 
upon  them  of  Ashdod  "  ;  Numbers  xi.,  23,  "  Is  the  Lord's 
hand  waxed  short  ?  "  ;  Exodus  ix.,  3,  "  The  hand  is  upon 
thy  cattle  "  ;  Psalm  Ixxiv.,  2,  "  Why  withdrawest  thou 
thy  hand,  even  thy  right  hand  ?  Pluck  it  out  of  thy 
bosom."  This  last  citation  serves  to  illustrate  how  the 
Lord  God  is  supposed  to  have  a  bosom,  being  more  direct 
than  that  one  in  John  i.,  18,  "  The  Son  which  is  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Father."  So  constant  are  allusions  to  the 
Almighty's  mouth,  and  to  what  proceedeth  out  of  it,  that 
we  limit  ourselves  to  one  noteworthy  instance.  In  the 
Book  of  Numbers  xii.,  8,  God  is  made  to  say  with  refer- 
ence to  Moses,  "  With  him  will  I  speak  mouth  to  mouth, 
even  apparently,  and  not  in  dark  speeches,  and  the  simili- 
tude of  the  Lord  shall  he  behold."  As  to  the  eyes  of 
God,  reference  to  them,  in  as  it  were  a  physical  sense,  is 
continual.  Thus,  in  Proverbs  xv.,  3,  we  read,  "The  eyes 


God  Likened  to  Man  Corporeally      165 

of  the  Lord  are  in  every  place,  beholding  the  evil  and  the 
good  "  ;  in  Deuteronomy  xxxii.,  10,  "  He  kept  him  as  the 
apple  of  his  eye"  ;  and  in  Psalm  xxxiv.,  15,  "  The  eyes 
of  the  Lord  are  upon  the  righteous."  The  verse  last 
quoted  concludes  thus,  "  and  his  ears  are  open  unto  their 
cry,"  which  reminds  us  that  we  omitted  the  u  ears,"  when 
naming  the  bodily  points  wherein  God  and  man  are  fam- 
iliarly assimilated  in  the  Scriptures.  Mention  is  also  made 
of  the  Almighty's  nostrils :  "  By  the  blast  of  God  they 
perish,"  says  Job  iv.,  9 ;  "  and  by  the  breath  of  his 
nostrils  are  they  consumed."  David  (2  Samuel  xxii.,  9) 
asserts  that,  because  God  was  wroth,  "  There  went  up  a 
smoke  out  of  his  nostrils,  and  fire  went  out  of  his  mouth 
which  kindleth  coals."  Is  it  not  somewhat  strange  that 
expressions  precisely  similar  are  applied  by  Job  xli.,  20, 
21,  to  his  description  of  the  leviathan  :  "  Out  of  his  nos- 
trils goeth  smoke.  .  .  .  His  breath  kindleth  coals  "  ? 
Furthermore,  Isaiah  Ixv.,  5,  makes  the  Lord,  with  refer- 
ence to  "  a  rebellious  people,"  use  this  expression  :  u  These 
are  a  smoke  in  my  nose,  a  fire  that  burneth  all  the  day  "  ; 
and  in  Leviticus  xxvi.,  31,  Jehovah  declares,  "  I  will 
not  smell  the  savour  of  your  sweet  odours."  On  the  other 
hand,  in  Genesis  viii.,  21,  we  are  told  how  the  Lord  God, 
inhaling  the  scent  of  Noah's  sacrifice  on  emerging  from 
the  ark,  "  smelled  a  sweet  savour."  Lastly,  as  though  to 
lower  still  more  these  associations  and  similitudes,  so 
derogatory  to  all  reverential  feeling,  Holy  Writ  informs 
us  that  the  Divine  Being  has  a  back.  Jeremiah  xviii., 
17,  puts  this  phrase  in  His  mouth  :  "  I  will  scatter  them  as 
with  an  east  wind  before  the  enemy  ;  I  will  shew  them 
the  back,  and  not  the  face,  in  the  day  of  their  calamity  "  ; 
and  Isaiah  says,  xxxviii.,  17,  "  Thou  hast  cast  all  my  sins 
behind  thy  back."  Moses  also,  Exodus  xxxiii.,  23, 
makes  the  Lord  say,  in  anticipation  of  the  promised  inter- 
view :  "  And  I  will  take  away  mine  hand,  and  thou  shalt 
see  my  back  parts,  but  my  face  shall  not  be  seen." 


166         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

We  have  thus  glanced  in  detail  at  some  of  the  instances 
in  which  the  mysterious  Founder  and  Ruler  of  the  Uni- 
verse is  vulgarised  and  falsified  in  the  Bible,  by  human 
beings  presuming  to  attribute  to  Him  a  share  in  their 
own  mental  and  corporeal  faculties.  To  them  might  be 
added  the  profane  and  inadmissible  idea  of  Jehovah 
speaking  to  Moses  "  face  to  face,  as  a  man  speaketh  unto 
his  friend  " — Exodus  xxxiii.,  2  ;  of  God  riding  upon  a 
cherub  and  flying  —  Psalm  xviii.,  10;  of  the  Lord  being 
"  a  man  of  war,"  and  of  his  wearing  a  "  vesture  "  or  a 
"  breast-plate  "  ;  of  the  Lord  coming  down  to  see  the  Tower 
of  Babel  —  Genesis  xi.,  5.  As  well  might  it  be  thought 
in  accordance  with  God's  justice  that  He  should,  through 
Moses,  enjoin  the  Israelites  to  borrow  jewels  of  gold  and 
silver  from  their  Egyptian  neighbours,  when  on  the  point 
of  departure  through  the  Red  Sea.  They  must  have 
known,  as  God  must  have  known,  that  the  pretended 
borrowing  would  be  nothing  better  than  fraud  and  rob- 
bery—  Exodus  xii.,  35,  36. 

It  has  been  well  asked  whether  a  mandate  ever  issued 
from  the  lips  of  a  blood-thirsty  Oriental  despot  more  terri- 
ble than  that  concerning  Amalek,  which  is  quoted  above  ; 
and  whether  we,  at  the  peril  of  our  salvation,  are  to 
believe  that  such  an  injunction  came  from  the  Creator, 
rather  than  from  the  mouth  of  the  cruel-minded  Samuel, 
who  "  hewed  Agog  in  pieces  before  the  Lord  in  Gilgal." 
To  this  may  be  added  the  query,  with  reference  to  several 
of  the  foregoing  citations,  whether  any  Christian  would 
tolerate,  in  the  way  of  illustration,  a  statue  or  picture, 
wherein  the  Almighty  Father  was  depicted  as  a  human 
being  inflamed  with  human  passions ;  though,  when  the 
ear  alone  is  appealed  to,  we  not  only  tolerate  the  idea,  but 
cling  to  it  with  such  passionate  earnestness  as  to  persecute 
with  the  extreme  of  resentment  any  one  who  will  not 
adopt  it  as  an  article  of  his  creed.  How  also  can  the  God 
who  affirms,  "  I  am  the  Lord,  I  change  not "  (Malachi 


Blind  Reliance  on  Scripture  167 

iii.,  6),  be  described  by  different  individuals  as  constantly 
varying,  unless  they  themselves  were  giving  utterance  to 
their  own  human  conceptions  of  what  a  God  should  be ; 
and  even  in  this,  differed  amongst  themselves?  Is  it  not 
more  rational  to  believe  that  God  has  been  clothed  with 
human  attributes  by  man,  rather  than  that  the  Lord  of 
all  creation  puts  on  the  contemptible  dress  worn  by 
mortals  who  live  in  one  of  the  smallest  of  the  worlds 
which  He  has  made?  Surely  such  considerations  should 
serve  to  wean  us  from  that  blind  reverence  to  the  identical 
words  of  Scripture  in  which  most  of  us  have  been  educated. 
Nor  can  this  reverence  be  justified  by  affirming  that  the 
language  to  which  we  have  taken  exception,  is  only 
conventional  or  metaphorical.  Who  shall  dare  to  say  that 
God  cannot  give  such  a  description  of  Himself  as  is  con- 
sistent with  His  attributes  except  through  a  certain 
phraseology  ?  The  idea  is  impious,  as  every  thoughtful 
mind  must  recognise.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  owned 
that  this  habit  of  incorporating  humanity  with  the  God- 
head has  taken  hold  of  all  nations  in  all  time,  and  has,  so 
to  say,  been  rubbed  into  all  theologies.  How  far  this 
arises  from  man's  inability  to  comprehend  what  lies  out- 
side of  and  beyond  himself,  is  touched  upon  elsewhere ; 
but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  has  been  fostered  in 
large  degree  by  what  a  writer  already  cited  has  termed 
the  exigencies  of  the  priesthood. 

Without  the  fiction,  says  he,  that  the  Almighty  heard 
and  spoke  in  reply  to  a  special  class  only,  the  hierarchy 
could  not  exist.  They  feign,  therefore,  to  have  divine 
powers — a  pretension  readily  conceded  by  those  who  are 
unable  or  unwilling  to  think  for  themselves.  By  this 
division  of  labour,  the  ecclesiastic  becomes  as  implicitly 
trusted  as  the  lawyer  or  the  physician.  But,  as  there  is 
in  all  educated  men  a  propensity  to  search  out  the  founda- 
tion of  the  claim  to  superiority  which  is  advanced  by 
professional  men  generally,  so  also  is  there  in  some  a 


168          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

strong  determination  to  examine  the  claims  of  those  who 
assume  the  power  to  dictate  to  the  Almighty  what  He  is 
to  do  with  mortals  when  they  become  immortal. 

If  investigation  and  the  light  of  modern  science,  acting 
upon  our  finer  sense,  overthrow  our  faith  in  the  Bible,  as 
an  inspired  record,  they  lead  us  to  a  more  profound  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  Almighty's  power,  justice,  and  wis- 
dom. "  God  is  a  spirit,  and  they  who  worship  him  must 
worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth."  This  is  altogether  a 
different  thing  from  a  blind  reliance  upon  the  utterances 
of  prophets  and  the  interpretations  of  priests. 

The  most  pernicious  error  of  church  teaching  is  that  sin 
can  be  compounded  for,  that  the  just  punishment  due  to 
sin  can  be  evaded  through  what  theologians  call  "  The 
scheme  of  salvation."  Now  the  natural  effect  of  this 
popular  dogma  is,  that  those  who  believe,  or  think  they 
believe  such  teaching  concern  themselves  more  about  the 
escape  they  are  to  make  from  punishment,  than  they  do 
about  the  shunning  of  sin.  While  men  act  upon  the  idea 
that  the  penalty  for  sin  can  be  avoided  or  bargained  for, 
they  are  comparatively  indifferent  to  any  work  of  self- 
discipline,  or  the  correction  of  their  faults.  All  this  is 
at  direct  variance  with  the  teachings  of  God,  through 
His  natural  laws.  He  therein  recompenses  every  man  ac- 
cording to  his  works.  In  this  there  is  no  prejudice,  no 
favour,  no  spite,  no  partiality,  no  escape  from  just  penalty, 
no  possibility  of  losing  a  just  reward,  no  bargaining,  no 
compromise,  no  evasion,  no  substitution.  Any  one  of 
these  would  be  less  just  and  good  than  for  God  to  exact 
the  whole  penalty  attached  to  the  breach  of  His  inexor- 
able law.  He  punishes  to  correct,  to  bring  to  repentance, 
to  save  to  the  blissful  end  in  store  for  us. 

The  third  chapter  in  Genesis  professes  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  man's  first  sin,  and  has  been  made  the  basis  of 
that  fundamental  article  of  the  Christian  faith,  "  The  fall 
of  man."  The  conclusions  drawn  from  this  chapter  are 


Man's  Perfection  169 

not  warranted  by  the  words  of  the  narrative,  which  we 
shall  now  proceed  to  show. 

Not  once  in  the  Old  Testament,  either  in  the  Law  or  in 
the  Prophets,  is  the  story  at  all  alluded  to.  All  their  no- 
tions of  God  and  man  were  totally  at  variance  with  the 
idea  of  man  having  been  made  orginally  perfect.  Jesus 
never  alluded  to  this  in  any  of  his  discourses  ;  on  the 
contrary,  he  declares  that  there  is  none  perfect  but  God ; 
and  this,  taken  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  he  no- 
where intimates  that  man  fell  through  Adam,  ought  to 
be  conclusive  with  all  who  believe  in  Jesus'  Divinity,  that 
man  was  no  more  perfect  at  the  creation  than  he  was  in 
Jesus'  day,  or  in  our  own.  The  first  time  that  Moses* 
story  is  appealed  to  as  historical  is  in  the  writings  of  the 
Apostle  Paul.  It  is  upon  his  probable  acceptance  of  the 
narrative,  in  an  unwarranted  literal  sense,  and  upon  false 
inferences  drawn  by  him  from  it,  that  the  prevailing  idea 
of  the  utter  corruption  and  curse  of  mankind  through  the 
fall,  and  of  their  recovery  or  redemption  by  the  substitu- 
tion of  a  victim  in  their  place,  is  founded. 

But  see  what  serious  results  this  leads  to.  All  who 
believe  the  doctrine  of  Christian  theology  which  is  based 
upon  man's  supposed  original  perfection  and  subsequent 
fall,  it  is  said,  will  be  saved  ;  but  all  who  do  not  believe 
in  it  will  be  damned.  To  admit  this  is  to  represent  God 
as  cursing  the  whole  human  family  for  the  sin  of  one  of 
their  number ;  and  only  removing  that  curse  from  those 
who  believe  in  the  shedding  of  the  innocent  blood  of 
a  victim,  of  whom  but  a  small  minority  have  ever  heard. 

The  error  which  lies  at  the  root  of  this  delusion  is  the 
idea  that  man  was  orginally  made  perfect  ;  and  that  he 
fell  from  that  state  of  purity  and  perfection  dragging  with 
him  his  whole  posterity.  Now  we  boldly  assert  that  Adam 
and  Eve  were  not  created  spiritually  perfect  as  God  is  per- 
fect, but  perfect  as  God  intended  that  man  should  be.  The 
story  itself  not  only  does  not  say  that  they  were  ;  it  gives 


1 70         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

not  the  remotest  intimation  of  such  a  thing.  They  are 
represented  as  believing  a  serpent,  or  perhaps  the  evi- 
dence of  their  own  senses,  rather  than  the  words  of  God, 
and  as  soon  as  they  are  tempted  they  yield  at  once. 

The  fact  is,  they  could  not  have  been  made  perfect. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  perfection  in  any  created  being. 
If  there  were  there  would  be  more  Gods  than  one :  for 
whatever  is  perfect  is  God. 

But  this  inference  is  evaded  by  a  qualification.  The- 
ologians tell  us  that  they  mean  relative  perfection — not 
that  man  could  be  made  perfect  as  God  is  perfect,  but 
that  he  was  made  good  and  happy.  This  we  admit ;  God 
could  not  make  anything  but  what  is  good  and  happy. 
But  He  could,  and  did,  make  beings  who,  when  they  were 
produced  by  His  wisdom  and  goodness,  were  not  only 
without  a  knowledge  of  physical  cause  and  effect,  but 
without  a  knowledge  also  of  moral  cause  and  effect. 
All  that  took  place  with  regard  to  man's  experience  of 
good  and  evil  was,  that  being  created  with  a  free-will  he 
at  once  put  that  free-will  into  full  exercise,  and  of  course 
learned  what  he  did  not  know  until  the  experiment  was 
tried. 

Again,  there  is  not  a  word  in  the  story  about  everlast- 
ing death,  or  the  torment  of  the  soul.  "  Ye  shall  surely 
die,"  was  understood  by  Adam  and  Eve  as  referring  to  the 
death  of  the  body;  because  the  narrator  goes  on  to  de- 
scribe their  being  driven  out  of  Paradise  lest  they  should 
eat  of  the  tree  of  life  and  live  for  ever.  Nothing  can  be 
plainer  than  that  natural  death  is  here  meant.  This  view 
of  the  subject  is  further  enforced  by  the  following  declara- 
tion :  "  Unto  dust  shalt  thou  return."  The  Apostle  Paul 
quotes  it  in  that  sense  when  he  says,  "  By  one  man  sin 
entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  so  death 
passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned,"  though  the 
first  part  of  this  assertion  is  shown  elsewhere  to  be  inac- 
curate, inasmuch  as  science  proves  that  death  had  entered 


Intimation  of  Redemption  171 

the  world  long  before  the  date  assigned  by  theologists. 
Again,  there  is  no  allusion  whatever  to  a  substitute  or 
sacrifice  as  the  mode  of  removing  the  curse  and  appeas- 
ing the  wrath  of  God.  There  is  not  a  single  word  spoken 
by  God  to  Adam  and  Eve  about  redemption  or  atone- 
ment. If  such  a  theory  had  been  true — if  the  narrative 
in  Genesis  were  supernaturally  suggested — it  would  surely 
have  contained  some  intimation  of  it  when  God  pro- 
nounced the  curse.  This  being  a  matter  of  the  very 
highest  importance,  not  only  to  Adam  and  Eve,  but  also 
to  their  posterity,  we  cannot  conceive,  the  goodness  of 
God  precludes  the  bare  idea,  that  He  could  have  withheld 
it  from  man. 

The  answer  to  this  is,  that  God  did,  at  once,  inform 
Adam  of  his  intention ;  that  He  gave  him  a  distinct  and 
unmistakable  intimation  of  it  when  He  said  :  "  I  will  put 
enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy 
seed  and  her  seed  :  it  shall  bruise  thy  head  and  thou  shalt 
bruise  his  heel"  (Genesis  Hi.,  15).  But  how  can  this  be 
called  a  plain  and  unmistakable  intimation  of  the  scheme 
of  salvation  ?  It  is  as  dark  a  parable  as  any  that  could  be 
constructed  ;  and  we  think  it  so  obscure,  except  as  to  the 
natural  enmity  that  exists  between  the  two,  that  it  would 
be  useless  to  argue  on  it. 

Turn,  in  the  next  place,  to  the  statement,  "  And  the 
Lord  God  took  the  man  and  put  him  into  the  garden  of 
Eden,  to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it "  (Gen.  ii.,  15). 

Church  theology  inculcates  the  idea  that  labour  was 
imposed  upon  Adam  in  consequence  of  his  first  transgres- 
sion ;  but  it  is  evident,  from  the  above  text,  that  previous 
to  Adam's  sinning,  as  it  is  called,  the  dressing  and  keep- 
ing of  the  garden  was  enjoined  on  him.  This,  no  one 
can  deny,  was  bodily  labour,  by  any  fair  interpretation. 
Adam  was  also  required  to  give  names  to  every  living 
creature.  Could  he  have  done  this,  except  at  the  ex- 
pense of  mental  labour,  even  though  every  beast  of  the 


One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

field  and  every  fowl  of  the  air  was  brought  to  him  for 
this  purpose  ? 

As  a  consequence  of  Adam's  eating  the  fruit,  God  cursed 
the  serpent  who  tempted  him,  through  Eve,  as  well  as  the 
ground  upon  which  he  trod  ;  neither  of  which  is  supposed 
to  be  morally  accountable.  The  curse  on  the  serpent, 
such  as  it  was,  in  any  sense  is  applicable  only  to  his  phy- 
sical nature. 

And  the  curses  referred  to,  which  pertain  to  man,  do 
not  necessarily  grow  out  of  man's  moral  offence.  The  fair 
inference  is  the  reverse  of  this.  The  sin,  according  to  the 
narration,  was  prompted  by  the  craving  of  man's  animal 
nature,  not  at  the  expense  of  any  moral  delinquency, 
such,  for  instance,  as  appropriating  the  fruits  of  a  fellow- 
being's  labour,  in  a  dishonest  way.  For,  according  to  the 
story,  Adam  and  Eve  were  the  only  persons  then  upon 
the  earth,  and  being  in  harmony,  it  is  said,  in  partaking 
of  the  fruit,  their  action  consequently  involved  no  sin- 
one  against  the  other. 

A  sense  of  shame  occasioned  by  the  sudden  discovery 
of  the  nakedness  of  one's  person  does  not  involve  the  idea 
of  moral  degradation  ;  it  rather  indicates  a  lively  percep- 
tion of  the  propriety  of  things ;  and  when  this  state  of 
things  is  accompanied  with  strenuous  efforts  to  hide  the 
nakedness  which  caused  the  shame,  as  in  Adam's  and 
Eve's  case,  it  is  highly  deserving  of  praise.  If  the  story 
be  credited,  such  must  have  been  the  view  which  God 
took  of  the  matter  when  He  sympathised  with  them  to 
the  extent  of  helping  the  naked  pair  out  of  their  dilemma 
by  clothing  them  with  skins,  thus  rewarding  instead  of 
punishing  them  and  showing  that  their  course  met  God's 
approbation  instead  of  condemnation.  Hence,  the  eaters 
of  the  forbidden  fruit  could  not  have  been  deemed  guilty 
by  God,  at  least  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  else  He  would 
have  left  them  to  the  punishment  which  under  His  unal- 
terable laws  ever  attaches  to  moral  delinquencies.  This 


The  Story  of  the  Fall  of  Man         1 73 

view  is  fully  sustained  by  the  narrative  of  the  matter  in 
question  ;  the  only  punishment  which  is  indicated  therein 
being  death  of  the  body,  and  labour,  which  we  assert  is  a 
blessing  and  not  a  curse. 

There  is  another  view  of  this  subject  which  is  adverse 
to  theologians.  The  reading  of  Genesis  leaves  the  im- 
pression that  a  very  short  time  only  could  have  elapsed 
between  the  eating  of  the  fruit  which  it  is  alleged  brought 
death  into  the  world,  and  the  time  of  God's  clothing  the 
naked  pair  with  the  skins  of  animals.  Now,  if  it  be  true 
that  up  to  the  eating  of  the  fruit  by  Adam  none  of  God's 
creatures  had  died,  it  begets  the  query,  how  it  came  to 
pass  that  there  were  skins  of  animals  immediately  at  hand 
in  a  fit  condition  for  comfortable  clothing. 

If,  to  account  for  these  inconsistencies,  it  be  said  that 
God  can  do  all  things  that  He  wills  to  do,  we  answer  that 
when  men  say  God  has  done  things  totally  inconsistent 
with  His  uniform  mode  of  action,  and  give  no  reliable 
proof  of  the  truth  of  their  assertion,  we  have  a  right  to 
infer  even  more ;  and  to  be  quite  sure  that  the  story  has 
its  origin  in  man's  imagination  and  not  in  the  doings  of 
God.  This  story  in  Genesis  rests  upon  the  sole  authority 
of  Moses  ;  it  is  irrational,  improbable,  and  contradictory 
to  itself  ;  but  worse  than  this,  the  Church  has  founded  a 
theology  upon  it,  totally  unwarranted  by  the  wording  or 
spirit  of  the  narrative. 

The  gist  of  the  theological  system  consists  in  their 
claiming  that  Adam's  alleged  sin  tainted  his  moral  na- 
ture ;  and  this  enables  them  to  transfer  the  final  test  of 
the  truth  or  fallacy  of  their  dogma  beyond  the  grave. 
Thus,  they  elude  detection  of  their  error,  since  no  man  re- 
turns thence  to  confront  them. 

One  of  the  evils  inflicted  upon  Adam  according  to  the 
narrative  was  additional  labour,  not  labour  primarily. 

The  ground,  by  virtue  of  the  curse,  became  harder  to 
till  outside  than  within  the  garden  in  which  he  was  first 


174         One  Religion:  Many  Creeds 

placed.  It  was,  therefore,  the  body  and  not  the  moral 
nature  of  Adam  that  had  to  pay  the  penalty,  if  penalty  it 
be  to  labour,  which  we  deny. 

And  again,  Eve  was  visited  with  increased  pain  in 
child-bearing,  and  not  with  any  new  source  of  sorrow. 
This  also  pertains  to  the  body.  It  is  not  a  consequence 
of  moral  guilt,  not  entailing  inward  reproaches,  as  when 
one  offends  against  the  laws  of  chastity,  for  example. 
And  if  these  evils  in  our  physical  nature  do  terminate  in  the 
death  of  the  body,  the  death  of  the  body  is  an  advantage, 
because  it  leaves  the  soul  untrammelled  and  enables  it  to 
draw  nearer  to  God,  who  is  the  source  of  happiness. 

"  And  the  Lord  God  said,  behold  the  man  is  become  as 
one  of  us  to  know  good  and  evil  "  (Genesis  iii.,  22).  If 
this  be  true  God  looked  upon  man,  after  his  transgression, 
as  more  like  Himself  than  before.  He  certainly  became 
a  wiser  being;  and  we  cannot  understand  how  wisdom 
can  be  a  curse  to  man.  It  brought  with  it  a  knowledge 
that  if  we  offend  against  the  laws  of  God  we  must  suffer 
for  it.  But  God  was  too  good  to  allow  us  to  go  on  suffer- 
ing in  this  world  for  ever,  for  our  short-sightedness  and 
folly.  He  therefore  made  it  impossible  for  us  to  do  so  by 
allowing  death  to  terminate  our  career.  That  man  might 
not  go  further  and  take  and  eat  of  the  fruits  of  life  and 
live  for  ever,  God  allowed  death  to  be  made  the  gate 
through  which  we  are  to  pass  to  a  state  of  everlasting 
progression  in  wisdom  and  felicity. 

But  to  go  further  into  this  incredible  narrative — "  And 
they  were  both  naked,  the  man  and  his  wife,  and  were  not 
ashamed  "  (Genesis  ii.,  25).  This  happy  state  of  nudity 
and  innocence,  then,  was  that  which  they  gloried  in  before 
the  fall.  But  what  next?  When  they  discovered,  by 
eating  of  the  fruits  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil,  that  the  condition  in  which  they  were  was  unseemly, 
they  experienced  a  sense  of  shame,  as  indicated  by  their 
use  of  fig  leaves,  and  they  were  afraid  and  went  and  hid 


The  Story  of  the  Fall  of  Man          175 

themselves;  and  so  when  God  found  them  thus,  in  order 
to  hide  their  nakedness,  we  are  told,  "  Unto  Adam  also 
and  to  his  wife  did  the  Lord  God  make  coats  of  skins  and 
clothed  them  "  (Genesis  iii.,  21). 

These,  then,  are  the  consequences  of  Adam  and  Eve's 
eating  of  the  fruits  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil.  Being  redeemed  or  saved  from  them  of  course  the 
converse  becomes  the  proper  order  of  things.  So  that 
when  a  man  is  redeemed  or  saved  to  eternal  life  by  the 
plan  of  salvation  through  Jesus,  he  might  go  naked  and 
feel  no  shame ! 

Again,  "  Therefore  the  Lord  God  sent  him  forth  from 
the  garden  of  Eden  to  till  the  ground  from  whence  he  was 
taken  "  (Genesis  iii.,  23).  It  appears  from  the  scope  of 
this  verse  that  God  turned  Adam  out  of  Paradise  to  till 
the  ground  outside  of  its  limits,  not  because  he  ate  of  the 
fruit  by  means  of  which  he  had  assimilated  himself  to 
God  by  gaining  a  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  but  rather 
lest  Adam  should  partake  of  the  tree  of  life  and  live 
forever,  and  thus  reverse  one  of  the  results  of  his  partaking 
of  the  fruits  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,  to  wit,  the  mortal- 
ity of  the  body.  So  God  compromised  the  matter,  being 
content  to  let  all  the  consequences  of  eating  the  forbid- 
den fruit  remain,  except  that  the  body  should  return  to 
the  dust  whence  it  was  taken.  And  to  make  quite  sure 
that  Adam  did  not  render  this  inoperative  He  placed 
a  guard  over  the  tree  of  life.  This  we  conceive  to  be  the 
natural  rendering  of  the  story  of  "  The  Fall,"  and  this,  if 
any  credence  is  to  be  given  to  it  at  all,  must  be  much 
nearer  the  truth  than  the  different  and  far-fetched  con- 
struction which  the  Christian  Churches  put  on  it  when 
they  deduce  from  it  the  doctrine  that  man  fell  from  the 
original  state  of  innocence,  that  he  must  be  redeemed 
therefrom  by  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  and  that  our  salva- 
tion depends  on  our  belief  in  this  complicated  dogma. 

We  submit  then,  is  not  the  course  which  is  attributed 


1 76         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

to  God  in  the  fable  we  have  just  criticised  an  imputation 
against  His  omnipotence,  His  wisdom,  and  His  stability 
of  purpose?  His  laws  are  immutable  ;  they  never  vary  ; 
and  from  the  first  they  were  framed  for  man's  best  inter- 
ests and  happiness.  The  death  of  the  material  portion 
of  animals  is  one  of  those  laws  which  was  in  the  order 
of  things  from  the  first.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  the 
increase  of  the  human  race  at  the  rate  at  which  men 
have  multiplied  since  the  creation  would  have  been  suffi- 
cient to  fill  the  earth  so  full  that  they  could  not  find 
standing  room,  not  to  say  food  enough  to  subsist  upon. 
No,  God  has  a  more  beneficent  purpose  in  view  than  to 
make  earth  man's  continual  abiding  place.  He  places 
us  here  that  he  may  train  us  for  a  much  higher  and 
wider  state  of  existence  beyond  the  grave.  Death,  then, 
was  no  accident ;  neither  was  it  visited  upon  man  as  a 
punishment  for  his  delinquencies,  but  as  an  important 
step  in  his  advance  toward  God. 

What  theologians  term  "  The  Fall  of  Man  "  is  based 
by  them  upon  the  fable  in  the  first  book  of  Moses,  called 
"Genesis,"  the  substance  of  which  is  as  follows:  The 
first  human  pair  was  placed  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  where 
everything  around  them  was  in  perfect  harmony  with 
their  nature,  their  tastes,  and  their  appetites :  "  And  the 
Lord  God  planted  a  garden  eastward  in  Eden :  and  there 
he  put  the  man  whom  he  had  formed.  And  out  of  the 
ground  made  the  Lord  God  to  grow  every  tree  that  is 
pleasant  to  the  sight,  and  good  for  food." 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  said,  or  may  be  inferred  from 
subsequent  words,  that  in  some  respects  Nature  itself  was 
very  different  from  what  we  find  it  now.  Originally, 
there  were  no  such  things  as  thorns,  or  briars,  or  noxious 
weeds  and  plants  infesting  the  ground  and  annoying  and 
perplexing  the  man  who  was  placed  upon  the  earth  to 
enjoy  perpetual  happiness  thereon.  These  things  sprang 
up  at,  and  in  consequence  of,  the  sin  of  Adam. 


Bible  Account  of  the  Fall  of  Man      177 

"And  unto  Adam  he  said,  Because  thou  hast  heark- 
ened unto  the  voice  of  thy  wife,  and  hast  eaten  of  the 
tree  of  which  I  commanded  thee  saying,  Thou  shalt  not 
eat  of  it :  cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake :  in  sorrow 
shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life.  Thorns  also 
and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee ;  and  thou  shalt 
eat  the  herb  of  the  field." 

The  elements  also  were  so  propitious,  and  the  climate 
so  congenial  and  healthy,  that  they  suffered  no  inconven- 
ience from  the  former,  nor  could  the  seeds  of  disease 
be  implanted  within  them  by  the  latter,  although  their 
physical  construction  was  precisely  what  it  is  now.  "  They 
were  both  naked,"  implying  that,  having  neither  the  rigour 
of  coldness  in  winter  nor  the  fierceness  of  heat  in  summer 
to  contend  with,  their  bodies  did  not  therefore  require  any 
protection  in  the  way  of  clothes.  This  is  further  implied 
by  the  theological  view  that  man — if  he  had  not  fallen — 
was  to  live  without  labour,  and  hence  could  not  have  pro- 
vided himself  with  clothing.  Since  animals  also  were  to 
live  for  ever,  man  could  not  be  clothed  with  their  skins ; 
and  yet,  contrary  as  it  may  seem  to  this  idea,  God  made 
them  garments  or  coats  of  skins,  as  soon  as  their  sense 
of  shame  made  it  necessary.  Again,  "  For  in  the  day 
that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die,"  implies 
that  but  for  an  act  of  disobedience — which  he  might  or 
might  not  commit — neither  death,  nor  its  antecedents, 
pain  and  disease,  could  have  ever  visited  them.  Neither 
was  the  nature  of  the  animals  what  it  subsequently 
became.  They  were  all  peaceful  and  happy  and  har- 
monious, none  carnivorous,  but  all  gregarious  and  living 
upon  herbs :  "  And  to  every  beast  of  the  earth,  and  to 
every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  everything  that  creepeth 
upon  the  earth,  wherein  there  is  life,  I  have  given  every 
green  herb  for  meat."  Man  himself  was  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent creature  to  what  he  became  immediately  after  eat- 
ing the  fruit  of  which  God  his  Maker  had  commanded 


1 78         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

him  not  to  eat.  He  was  good  and  holy  and  just  and  true  ; 
and  consequently  he  was  perfectly  happy. 

This  is,  substantially,  a  picture  of  what  is  presented  to 
us  from  the  pulpit  concerning  man  and  his  estate  before 
he  ate  of  the  forbidden  fruit.  It  is  what  is  claimed  by 
theologians  as  a  fair  deduction  from  the  account  given 
in  the  Book  of  Moses,  to  which  we  have  referred. 

But  is  it  in  accordance  with  the  facts  or  phenomena  of 
Nature,  and  with  the  wisdom  of  God?  If  this  dogma 
of  the  Church  be  true,  it  results  in  lowering  the  attributes 
of  the  Almighty,  and  in  representing  Him  as  a  Being 
whose  laws  and  plans  pertaining  to  all  created  things 
were  liable  to  be  thwarted  by  a  single  act  of  His  creature, 
man  ;  and  to  the  extent  of  necessitating  an  entire  revision 
of  those  laws  and  those  plans.  It  results  in  an  imputa- 
tion upon  His  omnipotence,  His  wisdom,  His  goodness, 
and  His  unchangeableness.  It  results  in  the  theory  that 
man — both  constitutionally  and  morally — is  not  the  same 
being  that  he  was  at  his  creation,  or  at  the  time  when  he 
was  first  called  to  take  upon  him  the  original  organism  of 
his  type.  In  a  word,  it  results  in  the  imputation  that 
God,  who,  according  to  His  very  nature,  never  varies  or 
modifies  or  adapts  His  laws  to  any  contingency,  was — 
instead  of  being  supreme — so  far  subject  to  the  caprice  of 
man  as  to  be  compelled  to  abandon  His  original  plan,  and 
reconstruct  or  re-organise  His  laws  pertaining  to  the  vege- 
table, animal,  and  spiritual  affairs  of  our  globe.  Now,  God 
is  a  Being  of  absolute  powers  and  perfections,  of  infinite 
wisdom  and  goodness ;  and  by  necessity,  in  carrying  out 
His  designs  at  creation,  He  must  have  made  everything 
perfect  both  as  a  whole  and  in  its  several  parts,  so  that 
entire  harmony  ensues  and  no  revision  or  amendment  is 
admissible.  God  made  man  with  such  faculties,  physic- 
ally and  mentally  and  morally,  as  in  His  wisdom  He 
deemed  best.  He  is  omniscient  and  unchangeable.  He 
cannot  therefore  be  turned  aside  in  His  purposes.  That 


Man's  Original  Condition  179 

infinite  goodness  and  wisdom  which  originally  governed 
Him  in  His  designs  toward  man,  must  ever  remain 
intact.  Man  was  made  perfect,  as  man,  and  no  higher, 
else  he  would  have  been  something  more,  or  other, 
than  man.  Nothing  is  conceivable  of  God  than  that 
everything  which  He  has  created',  and  the  laws  by  which 
His  creation  is  governed,  have  been  and  must  be  from 
first  to  last  in  perfect  harmony  each  with  the  other,  and 
with  His  will  and  pleasure.  It  is  indispensable  that  they 
should  be.  But  how  does  this  accord  with  Christian 
theology,  according  to  which,  a  single  breach  of  Adam's 
duty  wrought  a  total  change  in  most,  if  not  all,  of  God's 
original  ordinances  in  relation  to  man,  the  lower  animals, 
and  even  the  plants  ? 

Let  us  look  at  this  matter  more  closely.  If  God's 
original  design  in  regard  to  man  and  His  ordinances  for 
the  accomplishment  of  His  designs  were 'in  exact  con- 
formity with  each  and  every  part  of  His  general  plan, 
nothing  wanting,  nothing  useless;  and  if  His  original 
plan  and  purpose  was  what  theologians  assert  it  to  have 
been — then  certain  properties  and  affections,  which  now 
pertain  to  our  nature,  had  no  use  or  part  in  that  organ- 
isation. Up  to  the  time  of  Adam's  first  transgression, 
there  could  have  been  no  repugnance  to  evil,  since  evil 
was  not  then  contemplated  by  God.  There  could  have 
been  no  preference  for  the  good,  since  there  was  nothing 
contrary  thereto,  there  being  no  evil  with  which  to  con- 
trast the  good.  Conscience  could  have  had  no  existence 
in  man.  Sin  being  a  surprise  to  God,  conscience  to  re- 
buke it  could  have  had  no  part  in  God's  original  design. 
Modesty,  that  exquisite  trait  in  the  nature  of  man,  could 
have  had  no  part  in  his  original  constitution,  since  God 
did  not  foresee  that  the  first  pair  would  do  that  which 
made  their  nakedness  appear  in  a  new  light  to  them. 
And  yet,  according  to  the  narrative,  the  instant  it  was 
called  into  requisition,  modesty  very  naturally  performed 


i8o         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

the  duties  of  its  office — even  before  God  had  called  the 
offenders  to  account  for  doing  that  which  required  its 
first  blush.  This  shows  that  man  was  at  first  as  now, 
and  is  of  itself  fatal  to  the  theological  deduction  from 
the  narrative  as  it  stands.  And  now,  before  proceeding 
to  show,  at  some  length,  how  absurd  is  the  theological 
view  of  the  consequences  entailed  upon  certain  parts  of 
animal  creation  by  Adam's  fall,  we  interpolate  one  remark 
that  properly  belongs  to  a  more  general  consideration  of 
the  subject.  Theologians  hold  and  repeat  unceasingly 
that  death  is  but  the  passage  or  gate  to  heaven  which 
opens  to  those  who  believe.  If  this  be  so,  it  follows — 
according  to  the  doctrine  that  Adam  and  all  his  posterity 
were  originally  intended  to  dwell  for  ever  in  this  lower 
world— that  if  Adam  had  not  sinned  we  should  all  have 
been  deprived  of  that  blissful  abode,  which  we  are  led  to 
believe  is  a  transcendently  more  happy  place  than  was 
even  Paradise  itself!  So  that,  notwithstanding  man  is 
said  to  have  done  very  wrong  in  disobeying  God,  yet  he 
did  the  very  best  that  he  could  for  his  own  advantage. 
The  Church,  perhaps,  may  be  able  to  reconcile  this  diffi- 
culty when  it  explains  why  man  is  permitted  to  eat  meat, 
though  God  said  to  him  :  "  Thou  shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the 
field."  God's  perfection  is  a  guaranty  of  the  exact  fit- 
ness and  harmony  of  His  creation  as  a  whole,  and  as 
seen  in  the  various  laws,  means,  and  appliances  for  carry- 
ing out  His  purposes.  There  is  nothing  wanting,  nothing 
useless — each  and  every  part  being  indispensable  to  the 
accomplishment  of  His  perfect  end.  Now  this  involves 
that  if  God's  original  purpose  in  creating  what  pertains 
to  this  earth  was  in  accordance  with  the  theory  of  the 
Christian  theology  on  the  subject, — to  wit,  that  all  God's 
creatures  were  to  live  for  ever  happy  and  in  harmony  with 
each  other,  committing  no  breach  of  His  laws,  having  no 
pain,  misery,  or  discomfort,  either  of  body  or  mind, — then, 
the  instant  Adam  first  disobeyed  these  laws,  the  harmony 


Instant  Change  in  Animal  Life        181 

and  fitness  of  all  must  have  been  changed,  to  produce 
another  harmony  under  the  condition  of  things  as  they 
now  exist.  Adam,  himself,  must  necessarily  have  been 
reorganised.  He  must  instantly  have  been  so  trans- 
formed as  to  adapt  him  to  his  present  wants  and  his 
present  nature.  In  fact,  this  change  relates  alike  to  all 
men,  to  the  intuitions,  instincts,  and  physical  structure  of 
all,  and  to  every  property  of  the  body  and  mind  of  all. 
And  thus,  also,  with  the  lower  creation.  All  the  birds, 
fishes,  animals,  and  insects  that  are  now  carnivorous 
must  have  had  their  instinctive  propensities  altered. 
New  means  of  capturing,  eating,  and  digesting  such  food 
as  they  now  eat  must  have  been  instantly  furnished 
them,  to  accommodate  them  to  the  new  order  of  things 
— an  immense  work  to  be  performed,  as  it  seems  to  us, 
on  account  of  so  unimportant  a  transaction  as  that  to  which 
it  is  attributed.  The  beasts  and  birds  of  prey  must  have 
been  provided  with  sharp  fangs  and  hooked  claws  to 
enable  them  to  secure  their  victims ;  and  the  appliances 
which  they  have  for  masticating  flesh  must  have  been 
given  them  at  the  same  time.  All  the  animals  and 
birds  that  feed  upon  carrion  must  have  had  their  crav- 
ings of  appetite  adapted  to  such  food  and  their  sense 
of  smell  made  surprisingly  keen  to  apprise  them  of  its 
locality  at  long  distances.  The  hen  must  have  been 
gifted  with  the  instinct  that  causes  her  to  call  her 
chickens  under  her  wings  when  the  hawk  is  in  sight. 
The  dog  must  have  had  the  instinct  given  him  that 
warns  him  of  danger  when  he  smells  a  snake  whose  bite 
he,  intuitively,  knows  to  be  fatal.  The  instinct  that 
makes  living  things  flee  or  otherwise  strive  to  protect 
themselves  when  their  natural  antagonist  presents  itself 
must  also  have  been  called  into  requisition.  In  fact, 
all  the  instincts  and  propensities  that  pertain  to  the 
preservation  of  life  and  to  defence  at  the  approach  of  a 
natural  enemy  must  have  been  given  to  all  living  things 


1 82          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

the  moment  death  became  inaugurated  because  of  Adam's 
sin. 

Again,  all  living  creatures  that,  in  their  living  state, 
are  designed  as  food  for  other  living  creatures  must  have 
had  their  means  and  propensity  for  propagating  their  kind 
materially  increased  to  answer  to  the  state  of  things  that 
then  came  about. 

If  God's  purposes  were  that  animated  things  should 
not  prey  upon  each  other,  why  did  He  make  such  numer- 
ous kinds  and  species  of  animals,  birds,  insects,  and  fish, 
with  organs,  functions,  instincts,  and  propensities  espe- 
cially adapted  and  only  calculated  for  the  purpose  ? 
Why  did  he  not  endow  them  with  those  other  faculties 
absolutely  necessary  for  maintaining  life  according  to 
what  theologians  call  God's  original  plan?  That  God 
from  their  creation  intended  that  one  creature  should 
prey  upon  another  is  strongly  indicated  by  the  fact  that 
those  animals,  birds,  and  fishes  of  the  larger  series,  which 
are  not  liable  to  be  used  as  food  by  others,  propagate  their 
kind  in  much  less  abundance  than  do  those  which  are 
made  to  be  devoured :  What  vast  but  what  appropriate 
disproportion  is  there  between  sharks  and  herrings,  be- 
tween hawks  and  sparrows,  between  tigers  and  buffaloes, 
between  swallows  and  insects  on  the  wing ! 

Again,  it  is  certain  that,  to  maintain  the  order  and  fit- 
ness of  things  which  God  designed,  animals  of  all  kinds 
require  a  certain  area  or  space  for  their  occupancy  in  pro- 
portion to  their  numbers.  It  is  also  apparent  that  the 
aggregate  of  animal  life  is  materially  increased  by  the 
different  kinds  and  varieties  of  species  that  exist,  and 
that  the  well  being  of  each  is  promoted  by  the  existence 
of  not  over  a  certain  number  of  another  kind.  That  is  to 
say,  there  might  have  been  too  many  of  one  or  more  kinds 
to  produce  the  best  result.  If  this  be  true,  it  is  probable 
that  the  devouring  of  one  by  another  is  among  the  means 
that  Nature  uses  for  preventing  this  inconvenience.  There 


Death  Indispensable  183 

is  another  provision  of  Nature  apparently  tending  to  the 
same  end — it  has  been  ordained  that  an  insect  shall,  under 
certain  contingencies,  deposit  its  eggs  in  or  on  the  body  of 
another  living  insect  or  animal  of  a  different  species.  The 
effect  of  this  is  to  increase  the  number  of  one,  and  to 
diminish  that  of  the  other  kind.  This  provision  of  Nat- 
ure, whereby  insects  and  other  animate  things  feed  one 
upon  another  and  upon  the  eggs  of  each  other,  is,  we 
say,  among  the  arrangements  of  God  to  maintain  an 
equilibrium  or  proper  proportion  between  the  kinds,  and 
to  prevent  the  earth  from  being  overstocked,  as  it  soon 
would  be  under  the  theological  version  of  God's  original 
decrees. 

The  same  arrangement  prevails  with  regard  to  the  birds 
of  the  air,  and  the  beasts  of  the  field  and  forest.  Life  and 
death  are  linked  together,  and  depend  on  each  other  by 
and  through  God's  ordinances  in  such  a  way  that  it  is  not 
possible  that  it  can  have  been  anything  else  than  His 
original  purpose  that  they  should  both  prevail.  The  prey- 
ing of  one  species  of  animated  nature  upon  another  is 
totally  at  variance  with  the  dogmas  of  the  theologians  on 
this  very  subject.  They  say  that  it  was  God's  original 
design  that  all  living  things  that  came  into  being  on  the 
earth  or  in  the  waters  should  live  for  ever.  The  fallacy  of 
this  is  at  once  shown  by  the  use  of  figures.  At  the  rate 
at  which  living  things  now  multiply,  the  number  would 
very  soon  be  so  great,  if  all  continued  to  live,  that  further 
increase  in  numbers  would  be  totally  impracticable.  This 
result  would  render  all  the  provisions  that  now  exist  for 
the  production  and  consequent  perpetuation  of  animal  life 
perfectly  useless.  And  yet  these  embrace  so  wide  a  range 
and  are  so  intimately  interwoven  with  the  organs,  func- 
tions, and  instincts  of  animal  nature  that  it  is  impossible 
to  conceive  that  God's  plan  for  perpetuating  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  world  was  not  at  first  as  now.  It  is  impossible 
to  conceive,  for  example,  that  the  beautiful  and  pure  rela- 


1 84         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

tionship  which  exists  between  parents  and  children  should 
not  remain  an  ever-living  and  active  principle — a  never- 
ceasing  symbol,  in  some  degree  parallel  to  the  relationship 
that  exists  between  God,  who  is  a  Father  and  more  than 
a  Father,  and  all  His  happy  children,  here  and  hereafter 
— a  monument  of  His  benign  goodness  to  all  the  children 
of  men.  To  return  to  our  point :  even  the  living  things 
of  the  sea  must  have  had  their  nature  greatly  changed. 
Before  death  came  into  the  world  through  Adam's  sin, 
they  must  have  fed  on  the  fruits  and  herbs  of  their  own 
expansive  and  aquatic  fields.  It  is  true  that  the  primary 
source  whence  food  is  derived  for  the  growth  and  support 
of  animals  is  in  the  air,  in  the  water,  and  in  the  earth. 
It  is  also  true  that  animals  cannot  draw  their  support 
directly  from  the  inorganic  matter  contained  in  these  ele- 
ments. It  can  only  be  converted  into  pabulum  adapted 
to  their  support  by  and  through  the  instrumentality  of 
plants.  Vegetation,  therefore,  links  together  animal  life 
and  inorganic  matter.  Vegetation  is  the  prime  medium 
in  bringing  the  means  of  life  and  animation  out  of  inert 
matter.  On  the  land,  where  plants  are  in  greater  abun- 
dance and  enjoy  more  of  the  elements  of  thrift  than  is  the 
case  in  the  sea,  their  office  is  performed  mose  extensively ; 
and  the  pabulum  suitable  for  the  sustenance  of  both  large 
and  small  animals  is  furnished  in  much  greater  abundance 
than  is  the  case  in  relation  to  those  which  inhabit  the 
waters,  and  derive  their  support  through  the  medium  of 
animalcules.  Out  of  this  results  the  important  office  of 
the  animalcules  that  exist  in  such  vast  numbers  in  water. 
They  save  up  and  accumulate,  as  it  were,  the  comparative 
lesser  supply  of  food  by  aquatic  plants.  When  inorganic 
matter  has  once  passed  through  the  medium  of  plants 
into  suitable  food  for  animals,  it  is  retained  in  that  state 
through  the  instrumentality  of  animalcules,  which  serve 
as  a  guard  over  every  avenue  of  its  return  into  its  original 
state.  In  this  way  abundant  means  of  food  is  furnished 


The  Food  of  Animals  185 

to  all  the  grades  of  aquatic  animal  life ;  and  thus  the  other- 
wise too  scanty  vegetation  of  the  waters  is  made  sufficient 
to  the  end  in  view.  The  plant  product — the  organic 
matter,  be  it  vegetable  or  animal — is  seized  upon  in  all 
its  stages  of  decomposition  by  the  animalcules  which  exist 
in  myriads,  and  is  thus  converted  into  their  own  tissue, 
and  turned  back  into  animal  life  in  its  various  grades, 
they  themselves  being  preyed  upon  by  larger  classes  of 
animals.  Now,  all  this  is  a  part  of  a  vast,  complicated,  and 
yet  harmonious  system  ordained  by  God,  and  made  to 
operate  in  perfect  accordance  with  all  His  other  systems. 
This  perfect  whole  is  entirely  at  variance  with  the  idea  of 
the  theologians  that  God's  original  purpose  was  that  each 
individual  creature  in  the  sea,  as  well  as  on  land,  should 
live  for  ever  on  vegetable  matter  alone — that  is  to  say,  if 
the  inhabitants  of  the  waters  were  to  exist  in  anything 
like  the  numbers  in  which  we  find  them  now.  If  vege- 
table matter  only  was  to  be  food  for  them,  such  food  must 
have  been  vastly  increased  in  quantity.  Otherwise,  not 
one  aquatic  animal  could  exist,  in  proportion  to  the  thous- 
ands that  now  teem  in  the  waters.  And  the  same  would 
have  been  the  case,  in  a  less  degree,  with  land  animals,  if 
all  were  dependent  on  vegetable  food  alone  and  one  did 
not  prey  upon  the  other.  We  conclude,  therefore,  that, 
if  the  theological  view  of  the  original  ordinances  of  God 
in  relation  to  animal  creation  is  right,  then  the  animal- 
cules found  both  in  fresh  and  salt  water,  in  which  decay- 
ing vegetable  or  animal  matter  exists,  had  no  office,  or  at 
least  not  their  present  use,  in  the  economy  of  Nature. 

Let  us  look  now  at  another  branch  of  this  interesting 
subject.  To  ensure  that  the  face  of  the  earth  shall  be 
perpetually  clothed  with  verdure,  most  beautiful  to  the 
eye  and  most  pleasing  to  the  taste,  God  has  caused  the 
seeds  of  innumerable  varieties  of  plants  to  be  produced  in 
superabundance,  to  be  wafted  by  the  winds  or  carried  by 
the  waters  over  and  through  hill  and  dale  and  valley,  and 


1 86         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

sowed  by  the  birds  of  the  air  and  the  beasts  of  the  field 
and  forest.  Numerous  and  manifold  are  the  seeds  thus 
scattered  abroad ;  and  these  take  root  and  spring  up  in 
proportion  to  the  space  and  fertility  of  the  soil  requisite 
for  the  rearing  of  healthy  specimens.  The  multiplicity  of 
seeds,  and  the  varied  and  ample  mode  of  distribution  that 
prevails,  not  only  ensures  that  there  shall  be  no  lack  in 
numbers  and  dissemination ;  it  furnishes  an  abundance 
from  which  to  select  the  best  samples.  This  God  has 
provided  for  by  His  unalterable  laws,  as  well  in  the  veget- 
able as  in  the  animal  world.  And  those  laws  operate  in 
favour  of  the  specimens  of  each  variety  whose  incipient 
stage  gives  the  best  promise  for  future  excellence.  The 
young  tree  or  bush  that  makes  haste  —  if  we  may  so  speak 
— to  shoot  above  and  overtop  its  neighbours,  receives  upon 
its  branches  and  leaves  more  light,  more  air,  and  more  of 
the  rays  of  the  sun,  so  essential  to  its  growth,  than  is  the 
case  with  the  less  thrifty  of  its  kind  standing  near  by. 
This  is  true,  in  various  degrees,  with  every  variety  of  plant 
and  herb.  To  that  which  hath,  more  is  given.  The  un- 
thrifty fall  a  prey  to  the  strong  of  their  own  or  other 
kinds ;  and  this  applies  with  equal  if  not  with  greater 
force  to  animal  as  to  vegetable  life.  The  weak  and  un- 
thrifty have  impediments  thrown  in  their  way  that  the 
strong  know  not  of.  To  the  same  end,  is  the  greater  bel- 
ligerent propensity  of  male  than  of  female  animals.  It  is 
in  order  that  the  progeny  may  be  sired  by  the  more 
healthy  and  vigorous  of  the  respective  kinds;  and  hence 
a  higher  grade  of  excellence  is  maintained  among  the  ani- 
mal tribes  than  would  otherwise  be  the  case.  From  this 
rivalry  for  precedence  in  the  animal  department  of  nature 
as  well  as  the  vegetable,  death  frequently  ensues.  Even 
death,  we  say,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  is  ordained  to  the  end 
that  life  may  be  more  abundant,  beautiful,  and  excel- 
lent ;  that  freshness,  buoyancy,  and  the  green  leaf  may 
predominate.  Was  this  forced  unexpectedly  upon  Omni- 


Beautiful  Laws  of  Nature  187 

potence,  by  the  sin  of  Adam,  or  was  it  originally  ordained 
as  the  result  of  God's  wisdom  and  goodness  ?  Although 
we  may  not  comprehend  the  length  and  breadth  of  God's 
logic  in  all  this,  nevertheless  our  faith  is  complete  that  it 
is  and  was  right,  first  and  last  —  Christian  theology  to  the 
contrary,  notwithstanding.  The  present  order  has,  most 
unquestionably,  much  to  do  with  the  keeping  of  all  the 
things  of  the  earth  fresh,  beautiful,  and  more  comely 
than  would  otherwise  be  the  case. 

Upon  the  whole  it  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  laws 
pertaining  to  the  animal  and  vegetable  portion  of  the 
world  were,  at  the  first,  adjusted  to  the  order  of  things  as 
they  now  exist.  Death  and  decomposition  were  intended 
constantly  to  contribute  to  a  new  organisation  of  life  and 
beauty.  If  not,  Adam's  one  mistake  operated  to  convict 
God  of  millions  of  mistakes,  involving  a  radical  change  in 
man  and  the  lower  animals  to  suit  them  to  present  circum- 
stances. Now,  which  of  these  two  propositions  is  the  more 
credible,  and  more  in  accordance  with  true  religion  and 
reverence  for  our  Maker — that  God  made  the  blunder  in 
question,  or  that  the  story  has  its  origin  and  advocacy  in 
the  priesthood  ?  Grant  that  there  was  a  time  when  the 
first  man  had  not  performed  any  act,  either  good  or  bad, 
pertaining  to  the  duties  for  which  he  was  held  responsible. 
So  circumstanced,  he  was,  of  course,  without  committed 
sin,  and  therefore  personally  innocent.  Is  not  this  true, 
at  some  time,  with  regard  to  every  man  that  ever  arrived 
at  a  moral  accountability?  In  this  respect  at  least,  it  is 
evident  that  all  men  —  including  Adam  —  start  on  a  per- 
fect equality,  to  traverse  their  course  through  time  and 
in  eternity.  Now,  that  Adam  was  from  the  first  gifted 
with  some  agency  over  his  volitions  and  actions,  and  that 
his  original  nature  and  knowledge  was  not  such  as  to 
ensure  that  he  would  not  err  in  the  exercise  of  his  limited 
agency,  is  shown  by  the  Bible  story  of  his  fall.  That  he 
did  err,  precisely  after  the  manner  of  all  men,  as  soon  as 


1 88         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

he   was   put    to   the   test,  is   also   shown    by   the  same 
account. 

It  is,  therefore,  difficult  to  see  how  it  can  be  said  that 
Adam  in  any  way  differed,  from  first  to  last,  from  the 
present  type  of  humanity.  Standing  as  a  figure  of  the 
first  man,  Adam  was,  at  one  period  of  his  existence,  guilt- 
less of  any  committed  or  personal  sin,  and,  to  that  extent, 
in  God's  sight  he  was  innocent,  true,  and  good.  Every 
man  arriving  at  a  state  of  accountability  is  precisely  in 
the  same  condition.  But,  say  the  Churches,  man's  nature 
is  corrupt ;  he  is  at  enmity  with  God ;  and  this  was 
brought  about  by  Adam's  sin, — where  is  the  evidence  ? 
If  all  men,  at  one  period  of  their  lives,  advance  from  the 
same  standpoint,  all  men  like  Adam,  being  fallible,  are 
not  only  liable — but  they  are  sure  to  err.  Adam  so  erred, 
without  having  been  subject  to  the  taint  of  corruption  — 
as  the  theologians  have  it  —  by  the  sins  of  any  preceding 
man.  The  Bible  narrative  on  this  subject  leads  to  the  in- 
ference that,  very  early  after  he  was  put  to  the  test  of 
choosing  the  good  and  avoiding  the  evil  —  which  is  liter- 
ally the  business  of  life  with  all  men, —  he  did  precisely 
the  same  thing  that  all  other  men  do.  At  times  he  did 
what  is  right ;  and  at  times  he  did  what  is  wrong.  It  is 
in  that  way  we  gain  experience,  and  are  trained  to  the 
practice  of  virtue.  God  alone  is  always  right,  always  good  ; 
and  the  idea  that  He  originally  created  man  short-sighted 
and  liable  to  err,  as  we  now  see  him,  militates  nothing 
against  His  goodness,  since  He  has  ordained  that  which 
shall  be  effectual  to  the  diminution  of  man's  ignorance 
and  the  supplying  of  his  shortcomings,  by  His  own  infinite 
knowledge  and  perfection.  God  has  never  been  thwarted, 
disconcerted,  or  interfered  with,  in  the  slightest  degree, 
by  either  man  or  devil.  He  is  supreme  in  all  things.  His 
plans  and  doings  were  all  perfect  from  the  first  and  need 
no  altering.  They  cannot  be  altered.  The  very  idea  of 
God,  when  contemplated  in  the  fulness  in  which  it  is  man's 


God's  Original  Laws  Unchanged      189 

highest  privilege  to  view  Him,  amounts  to  demonstration 
that  He  is  unchangeable.  This  alone  is  consistent  with 
the  perfections  of  God,  and  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
teachings  of  Christian  theology.  We  insist,  therefore, 
that  man  and  all  the  lower  animals  that  now  inhabit  the 
earth  bear  the  same  stamp  and  impress  that  God  origin- 
ally gave  them ;  and  that  human  nature  is  ever  the  same 
in  its  incipient  stage  — subject  to  be  assimilated  more  and 
more  toward  God's  perfections,  under  the  influence  and 
teaching  of  His  unchanging  laws,  ordained  for  the  pur- 
pose at  man's  creation.  This  may  figuratively  be  termed 
the  partaking  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil. 
None  are  shut  out  from  it.  All  eat  of  it,  even  in  this 
first  stage  of  our  existence ;  but  with  various  degrees  of 
success ;  and  in  God's  good  time,  none  will  fail  to  profit 
by  it.  We  shall  eat,  and  live  for  ever. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  shall  be  alleged  that  God  fore- 
saw what  Adam  would  do  in  the  matter  in  question,  and 
provided  all  things  beforehand  so  as  to  meet  the  exact 
case,  so  say  we ;  and  Adam  as  the  representative  of  man- 
kind is  now  as  at  first,  and  as  God  intended  he  should  be 
from  the  first. 

In  relation  to  the  origin  of  man,  we  cite  the  following 
extracts  from  Humboldt  and  other  German  writers,  which 
in  substance  repudiate  the  Hebrew  tradition : 

"  We  do  not  know,"  says  Wilhelm  von  Humboldt  in  an 
unpublished  work,  "  either  from  history  or  from  authentic 
tradition,  any  period  of  time  in  which  the  human  race  has 
not  been  divided  into  groups.  Whether  the  gregarious 
condition  was  original,  or  of  subsequent  occurrence,  we 
have  no  historic  evidence  to  show.  The  separate  myth- 
ical relations,  found  to  exist  independently  of  one  another 
in  different  parts  of  the  earth,  appear  to  refute  the  first 
hypothesis :  and  concur  in  ascribing  the  generation  of  the 
human  race  to  one  pair.  The  general  prevalence  of  this 
myth  has  caused  it  to  be  regarded  as  a  traditionary  record, 


190         One  Religion:  Many  Creeds 

transmitted  from  the  primitive  man  to  his  descendants. 
But  this  very  circumstance  seems  rather  to  prove  that  it 
has  no  historical  foundation,  but  has  simply  arisen  from 
an  identity  in  the  mode  of  intellectual  conception,  which 
has  everywhere  led  men  to  adopt  the  same  conclusions 
regarding  identical  phenomena,  in  the  same  manner  as 
many  myths  have  doubtless  arisen,  not  from  any  historical 
connection  existing  between  them,  but  from  an  identity 
of  human  thought  and  imagination.  It  is  in  vain  that  we 
direct  our  thoughts  to  the  solution  of  the  great  problem 
of  the  first  origin  ;  since  man  is  too  intimately  associated 
with  his  own  race,  and  with  the  relations  of  time,  to  con- 
ceive of  the  existence  of  an  individual,  independently  of 
a  preceding  generation  and  age. 

"  Nothing  remains  but  to  embrace  the  opinion,  that  the 
distinct  characteristics  of  the  human  race  were  imprinted 
at  all  times ;  or  that  in  general  mankind  does  not  descend 
from  one  man  and  woman,  —  from  Adam  and  Eve, —  but 
from  several  human  pairs. 

"  Inasmuch,  as  it  has  never  yet  occurred  to  anybody  to 
sustain  that  all  figs  have  sprung  from  a  solitary  primitive 
fig,  even  as  little  can  any  one  admit  the  whole  of  man- 
kind to  be  derived  lineally  from  a  single  human  pair. 
Wherever  the  conditions  of  life  were  found,  life  has 
sprung  forth." 

According  to  these  views  the  whole  story  in  the  Book 
of  Genesis  relating  to  Adam  and  Eve  —  which  is  the  sole 
authority  as  to  the  first  human  pair  being  placed  in  the 
Garden  of  Eden  —  is  altogether  fallacious,  a  view  in  which 
we  entirely  concur. 

Now,  as  the  Christian  theology  is  wholly  based  on  the 
story  taken  in  its  literal  significance,  upon  the  authority 
of  a  single  person  who  is  claimed  to  have  recorded  it  two 
thousand  years  after  its  supposed  occurrence,  there  is  cer- 
tainly left  but  a  very  slender  foundation,  whereon  to  build 
one's  hopes  or  fears  of  eternal  salvation  or  destruction. 


Adam's  Sin  191 

We  find  that  according  to  Bible  narrative,  Adam  was 
created  in  such  a  condition  of  life  that  had  he  not  broken 
the  commandment  of  God,  he  would  have  enjoyed  it  in 
the  paradise  of  Eden,  everlastingly.  But  he  ate  of  the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  of  which  God  had 
told  him  :  "  Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it ;  for  in  the  day  that 
thou  eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt  surely  die."  And  now,  lest 
he  should  put  forth  his  hand  and  eat  of  the  tree  of  life 
and  live  for  ever,God  thrust  him  out  of  paradise.  By  which 
it  appears  that  if  Adam  had  not  sinned,  he  would  have 
had  an  eternal  life  on  earth,  both  bodily  and  spiritually. 
But,  as  he  did,  physical  mortality  became  the  lot,  both  of 
him  and  his  posterity.  Not  that  actual  death  then 
entered ;  for  Adam  then  could  never  have  had  children  ; 
whereas,  he  lived  long  after,  and  saw  a  numerous  progeny 
spring  up  around  him.  Where  therefore  it  is  said,  "  In 
the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt  surely  die  " 
(Genesis  ii.,  17),  and,  "unto  dust  shalt  thou  return" 
(Genesis  iii.,  19),  it  must  needs  be  meant  that  his  body 
would  become  mortal,  and  be  sure  to  suffer  death. 

But  added  to  this  idea,  the  theology  of  the  Christian 
Churches  teaches  also  that  Adam's  sin  degraded  the 
spiritual  nature  of  mankind.  This  doctrine  is  not  war- 
ranted by  the  language  of  the  Bible.  "  For  God  doth 
know  that  in  the  day  ye  eat  thereof,  then  your  eyes  shall 
be  opened ;  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good  and 
evil"  (Genesis  iii.,  5).  "  And  the  Lord  God  said,  Behold, 
the  man  is  become  as  one  of  us,  to  know  good  and  evil ; 
and  now,  lest  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  take  also  of  the 
tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  for  ever :  Therefore  the  Lord 
God  sent  him  forth  from  the  garden  of  Eden,  to  till  the 
ground  from  whence  he  was  taken  "  (Genesis  iii.,  22,  23). 

Now  it  is  difficult  to  perceive  how  man's  arriving  at 
a  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  and  thereby  assimilating 
himself  to  God,  is  to  be  construed  into  man's  degradation 
or  fall.  Is  it  not  rather  an  advance  in  the  right  direction  ? 


192         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Does  not  knowledge  tend  to  elevate,  rather  than  to  de- 
grade ?  Some  knowledge  must  be  had  of  evil  in  order  to 
lead  us  to  the  highest  appreciation  of  the  good,  the  true, 
and  the  right.  God  therefore  trains  man  in  the  direction 
of  his  own  perfections,  by  rewarding  virtue  and  punishing 
vice,  which  tends  to  constantly  increasing  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil ;  and  thus  man  is  conducted  to  the  happy 
destiny  which  God  designed  for  him. 

But  to  proceed  witn  the  argument  on  the  theory  that 
man  did  fall,  and  that  it  became  necessary  that  some  one 
should  restore  him. 

If,  as  it  is  said,  Jesus  has  made  satisfaction  for  the  sins 
of  all  that  believe  in  him,  and  therefore  recovers  to  all  be- 
lievers that  "  Eternal  Life  "  which  was  lost  by  the  sin  of 
Adam,  it  must,  in  this  sense,  be  recovered  for  them  on 
earth.  Herein,  alone,  is  it  that  the  comparison  of  St.  Paul 
holds  good,  when  he  says :  "  As  by  the  offence  of  one,  judg- 
ment came  upon  all  men  to  condemnation,  even  so  by  the 
righteousness  of  one,  the  free  gift  came  upon  all  men  to 
justification  of  life"  (Romans  v.,  18,  19);  or  as  he  more 
perspicuously  expresses  it,  in  those  other  words  of  his : 
"  For  as  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be 
made  alive"  (i  Corinthians  xv.,  22). 

The  place,  then,  wherein  men  are  to  enjoy  eternal  life, 
which  Jesus  hath  obtained  for  them,  can  be  none  other 
than  here,  where,  having  first  obtained  it,  they  lost  it ; 
and  where,  last  of  all,  they  recover  it  again,  through  him. 
For  if,  as  in  Adam  all  die,  that  is,  if  in  Adam  all  have  for- 
feited paradise  and  eternal  life  on  earth,  and  returned  to 
dust  again,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive,  that 
is,  all  shall  be  made  alive  on  earth,  in  the  flesh.  If  this, 
we  say,  be  not  the  meaning  of  the  words,  then  words  fail 
to  convey  any  adequate  idea  of  the  text.  The  Psalmist 
not  only  corroborates,  but  he  strengthens  this  view  of  the 
subject.  "  For  there,"  says  he,  that  is,  on  Mount  Zion 
(the  place  which  is  made  to  represent  Jerusalem  upon 


Eternal  Life  on  Earth  193 

earth),  "  the  Lord  commanded  the  blessing,  even  life  for 
evermore  "  (Psalm  cxxxiii.,  3).  John  also,  in  the  Reve- 
lation, does  the  same  thing :  "  To  him  that  overcometh, 
I  will  give  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the  midst 
of  the  paradise  of  God"  (Revelation  ii.,  7).  This  was 
the  tree  of  Adam's  eternal  life,  which,  from  the  wording 
of  the  fable,  was  evidently  intended  to  be  on  earth.  But 
for  our  further  confirmation,  the  same  Apostle  says  again  : 
"  I,  John,  saw  the  holy  city,  the  new  Jerusalem,  coming 
down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  prepared  as  a  bride 
adorned  for  her  husband"  (Revelation  xxi.,  2).  And 
again,  to  the  same  effect,  he  remarks :  "  And  he  carried 
me  away  in  the  spirit,  to  a  great  and  high  mountain,  and 
shewed  me  that  great  city,  the  holy  Jerusalem,  descend- 
ing out  of  heaven  from  God  "  (Rev.  xxi.,  10) ;  implying 
that  the  new  Jerusalem,  the  paradise  of  God,  at  the  com- 
ing again  of  Jesus,  should  come  down  to  God's  people 
from  heaven ;  and  not  that  they  should  go  up  to  it  from 
earth.  This  differs  nothing  from  that  which  the  two  men 
in  white  clothing — that  is,  the  two  angels — said  to  the 
Apostles  who  were  looking  upon  Jesus  ascending :  "  This 
same  Jesus,  who  is  taken  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall 
so  come,  as  you  have  seen  him  go  into  heaven  "  (Acts 
i.,  ii).  This  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  Jesus  will  come 
down  to  govern  them  under  his  Father,  here,  eternally ; 
and  not  take  them  up,  to  govern  them  in  heaven  above. 
It  answers  also  to  the  restoration  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
instituted  under  Moses,  which  was  a  political  government 
of  the  Jews  on  earth. 

Now — referring  again  to  the  first  part  of  the  argument 
— if  Adam  and  Eve  had  not  sinned,  and  had  lived  on  the 
earth,  together  with  their  posterity,  forever,  it  is  manifest 
that  the  earth  could  not  have  contained  the  aggregate.  If 
immortals  could  have  generated  as  mankind  do  now,  the 
earth,  in  a  short  space  of  time,  would  not  have  sufficed 

for  them  to  live  in. 
13 


194         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Again,  the  joys  of  that  "  life  eternal,"  in  Scripture  lan- 
guage, are  all  comprehended  under  the  name  of  Salvation. 
Now,  to  be  saved  is  to  be  secured,  either  respectively 
against  special  evils,  or  absolutely  against  all  evils  —  com- 
prehending want,  sickness,  and  even  death  itself.  If, 
therefore,  man  was  created  an  immortal  being,  not  subject 
to  corruption,  and  having  nothing  in  him  that  tends  to 
dissolution,  and  if  he  fell  from  that  state  of  happiness  by 
the  sin  of  Adam,  it  follows  that  to  be  saved  from  sin,  in 
his  case,  is  to  be  saved  from  all  the  evils  and  calamities 
that  sin  brought  upon  him.  So  that  the  meaning  of  the 
Scriptural  term,  "  remission  of  sins,"  is  one  and  the  same 
with  salvation  from  death  and  misery.  This  is  manifest 
from  the  words  of  Jesus ;  when  he  cured  a  man  sick  of  the 
palsy,  he  began  by  saying,  "  Son,  be  of  good  cheer,  thy 
sins  be  forgiven  thee  "  (Matthew  ix.,  2) ;  and,  being  mur- 
mured at  by  the  Scribes  for  this  act,  asked  them,  "Whether 
is  it  easier  to  say,  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee,  or  to  say, 
Arise  and  walk  ?  "  (Matthew  ix.,  5).  Of  course,  he  meant 
that  the  two  things  were  synonymous — that  "  Thy  sins  be 
forgiven  thee,"  and  "  Arise  and  walk  "  would  produce  the 
same  effect.  Reason,  too,  teaches  us  that  since  death 
and  misery  are,  according  to  Bible  teaching,  the  punish- 
ments of  sin,  redemption  from  sin  must  also  be  redemp- 
tion from  death  and  misery ;  that  is  to  say,  absolute 
salvation. 

But  salvation  may  also  be  a  special  remedy  against 
particular  evils — and  what  are  they  ?  Examples  are  the 
best  means  of  teaching  us.  "  And  he  said,  the  Lord  is  my 
rock,  and  my  fortress,  and  my  deliverer ;  the  God  of  my 
rock ;  in  Him  will  I  trust ;  He  is  my  shield  and  the  horn 
of  my  salvation,  my  high  tower  and  my  refuge,  my  saviour 
—  thou  savest  me  from  violence.  I  will  call  on  the  Lord, 
who  is  worthy  to  be  praised  :  so  shall  I  be  saved  from 
mine  enemies  "  (2  Samuel  xxii.,  2-4).  "  And  the  Lord 
gave  Israel  a  saviour,  so  that  they  went  out  from  under 


Salvation  Not  Spiritual  195 

the  hand  of  the  Syrians ;  and  the  children  of  Israel  dwelt 
in  their  tents,  as  beforetime  "  (2  Kings  xiii.,  5).  Now, 
these  quotations,  and  many  others  of  a  similar  character, 
which  could  be  selected,  most  unquestionably  have  refer- 
ence to  the  realisation  of  an  earthly  salvation,  which  is 
described  and  marked  out  precisely  at  length  in  the  fol- 
lowing passages  from  the  Book  of  Isaiah :  "  Look  upon 
Zion,  the  city  of  our  solemnities ;  thine  eyes  shall  see 
Jerusalem,  a  quiet  habitation,  a  tabernacle  that  shall  not 
be  taken  down  ;  not  one  of  the  stakes  thereof  shall  ever  be 
removed,  neither  shall  any  of  the  cords  thereof  be  broken. 
But  there  the  glorious  Lord  will  be  unto  us  a  place  of 
broad  rivers  and  streams  ;  wherein  shall  go  no  galley  with 
oars,  neither  shall  gallant  ship  pass  thereby.  For  the 
Lord  is  our  judge,  the  Lord  is  our  lawgiver,  the  Lord  is 
our  King ;  he  will  save  us.  Thy  tacklings  are  loosed ; 
they  could  not  well  strengthen  their  mast ;  they  could  not 
spread  the  sail ;  then  is  the  prey  of  a  great  spoil  divided  ; 
the  lame  take  the  prey.  And  the  inhabitant  shall  not 
say,  I  am  sick ;  the  people  that  dwell  therein  shall  be  for- 
given their  iniquity  "  (Isaiah  xxxiii.,  20-24).  In  these 
words  we  have  the  place  from  whence  salvation  is  to  pro- 
ceed, namely,  "  Jerusalem,"  "  a  quiet  habitation  "  ;  and 
the  eternity  of  it,  "  a  tabernacle  that  shall  not  be  taken 
down,"  etc.  Is  it  not,  therefore,  evident  that  the  Script- 
ures foretell  that  salvation  shall  be  on  this  earth  !  If  this 
is  not  sufficiently  emphatic,  examine  the  following  texts 
from  the  same  prophet :  "  And  they  [that  is,  the  Gentiles 
who  had  any  Jew  in  bondage]  shall  bring  all  your 
brethren,  for  an  offering  unto  the  Lord  out  of  all 
nations,  upon  horses  and  in  chariots,  and  in  litters,  and 
upon  mules,  and  upon  swift  beasts,  to  my  holy  mountain 
Jerusalem,  saith  the  Lord,  as  the  children  of  Israel  bring 
an  offering  in  a  clean  vessel  into  the  house  of  the  Lord. 
And  I  will  also  take  of  them  for  priests  and  for  Levites, 
saith  the  Lord"  (Isaiah  Ixvi.,  20,21).  Whereby  it  is 


196         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

manifest  that  the  chief  seat  of  God's  kingdom,  which  is 
the  place  from  whence  the  salvation  of  the  Gentiles  was 
to  proceed,  was  Jerusalem. 

But  to  pursue  this  subject  still  further:  The  prophet 
Joel,  in  describing  the  day  of  judgment,  says  that  God 
will "  shew  wonders  in  the  heavens,  and  in  the  earth,  blood, 
and  fire,  and  pillars  of  smoke ;  the  sun  shall  be  turned  into 
darkness,  and  the  moon  into  blood,  before  the  great  and 
terrible  day  of  the  Lord  come.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass 
that  whosoever  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall 
be  delivered  :  for  in  Mount  Zion  and  in  Jerusalem  shall 
be  deliverance  "  (Joel  ii.,  30-32).  Obadiah,  in  his  single 
chapter,  says  the  same  thing :  "  Upon  Mount  Zion  shall 
be  deliverance,  and  there  shall  be  holiness  ;  and  the  house 
of  Jacob  shall  possess  their  possessions"  (verse  17) — that 
is,  the  possessions  of  the  heathen.  These  possessions  he 
designates  more  particularly  in  the  following  verses,  by  the 
title  of  "  the  Mount  of  Esau,"  "the  Land  of  the  Philis- 
tines," "the  fields  of  Ephraim,"  "of  Samaria,"  "  Gilead," 
and  "  the  cities  of  the  South  " ;  and  then  he  concludes 
with  these  words,  "  the  kingdom  shall  be  the  Lord's." 
All  these  places  are  said  to  be  for  salvation,  and  for  the 
kingdom  of  God,  after  the  day  of  judgment  upon  earth. 

By  examining  the  term  "  world,"  as  made  use  of  in  the 
Bible,  this  will  become  still  more  apparent.  There  we 
have  it  referred  to  in  three  different  senses,  as  the  old 
world,  the  present  world,  and  the  world  to  come.  Of  the 
first,  St.  Peter  speaks  in  the  following  language :  "  And 
spared  not  the  old  world,  but  saved  Noah  the  eighth  per- 
son, a  preacher  of  righteousness,  bringing  the  flood  upon 
the  world  of  the  ungodly"  (2  Peter  ii.,  5) — which  evi- 
dently means  the  world  that  existed  from  Adam  to  what 
is  called  the  Deluge.  Of  the  present  world,  Jesus  him- 
self thus  speaks :  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  ;  if 
my  kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then  would  my  servants 
fight  that  I  should  not  be  delivered  to  the  Jews  "  (John 


One  Article  of  Faith  197 

xviii.,  36).  Jesus  means  the  world  then  actually  around 
him,  which  was  then,  and  which  is  now,  inhabited  by  the 
human  race,  as  contradistinguished  from  the  world  over 
which  he  expected  to  rule  at  his  second  coming.  And  of 
this  world  to  come  to  which  Christ  alluded,  the  Apostle 
Peter  again  enlightens  us :  "  Nevertheless  we,  according 
to  his  promise,  look  for  new  heavens,  and  a  new  earth 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness  " — 2  Peter  iii.,  13.  This 
is  also  that  world,  whereunto  Christ  coming  down  from 
heaven  in  the  clouds,  with  great  power  and  glory,  shall 
send  his  angels,  and  shall  gather  together  his  elect  from 
the  four  winds,  and  from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth, 
and  thenceforth  reign  over  them  under  his  Father,  ever- 
lastingly. 

The  only  article  of  faith  which  the  Scriptures  make 
simply  necessary  to  salvation  is  this,  that  Jesus  is  "  The 
Christ."  By  the  name  of  Christ,  at  that  time,  was  under- 
stood "The  King";  the  anointed  one;  the  one  whom 
God  had  before  promised,  by  the  prophets  of  the  Old 
Testament,  to  send  into  the  world,  to  reign  over  the  Jews, 
and  over  such  nations  as  should  believe  in  him,  under  him- 
self, eternally ;  and  to  give  them  that  eternal  life  which 
was  lost  by  the  sin  of  Adam,  namely,  life  everlasting 
in  the  flesh  upon  earth.  The  aim  of  all  the  Evangel- 
ists, who  give  us  such  a  graphic  description  of  the  life 
of  Jesus,  was  to  establish  that  one  article  of  faith,  that 
Jesus  is  "  The  Christ."  The  sum  and  substance  of  Mat- 
thew's Gospel  is  this,  that  Jesus  was  of  the  stock  of  David, 
and  that  he  was  born  of  a  Virgin.  These  are  considered, 
perhaps,  the  strongest  marks  by  which  the  true  Christ  was 
to  be  identified;  but  they  are  not  all.  They  are  con- 
firmed, we  are  taught,  by  the  following  corroborative  evi- 
dence :  The  Magi  came  to  worship  him  as  such,  that  is  as 
"  The  King  of  the  Jews."  Herod,  for  the  same  cause, 
sought  to  kill  him.  John  the  Baptist  proclaimed  him. 
He  declared  himself ;  and  his  Apostles  also  preached  that 


198         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

he  taught  the  law,  not  as  a  scribe,  but  as  a  man  of  author- 
ity— that  is,  as  a  man  in  a  supreme  position.  He  cured 
diseases  by  his  word  only,  and  did  many  other  miracles, 
which  it  was  foretold  the  Christ  should  do.  He  was  saluted 
king,  when  he  entered  into  Jerusalem.  He  forewarned 
his  disciples,  and  others,  to  beware  of  any  except  himself 
who  should  pretend  to  be  Christ.  He  was  taken,  accused, 
and  put  to  death,  for  saying  he  was  that  king.  The  cause 
of  his  condemnation,  written  on  the  cross,  was,  "  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  The  King  of  the  Jews."  All  these,  and 
many  other  examples  of  a  like  character,  teach  (and  teach 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  this)  that  men  should  believe 
that  "  Jesus  is  the  Christ."  We  gather  these  quotations 
from  the  history  of  Jesus,  written  by  Matthew.  The 
other  three  Evangelists  who  wrote  of  him,  with  some  few 
discrepancies,  additions,  and  subtractions,  say  pretty  much 
the  same  things.  The  whole  and  sole  design,  therefore,  of 
the  Evangelists  was  to  impress  and  establish  this  one  idea. 
Indeed  John  makes  it  the  sum  total  of  his  history.  "  These 
things  were  written,"  says  he,  "that  ye  might  believe 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  that  believ- 
ing ye  might  have  life  through  his  name"  (John  xx.,  31) 
— that  is  to  say,  life  everlasting  upon  earth  in  the  flesh. 
The  Apostles,  even  in  the  lifetime  of  Jesus,  were  sent  to 
preach  the  kingdom  of  God  :  "  And  he  sent  them  to  preach 
the  kingdom  of  God  "  (Luke  ix.,  2).  And  again  :  "  As  ye 
go,  preach,  saying,  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand  " 
(Matthew  x.,  7).  Now  what  can  we  gather  from  this  but 
that  he  sent  them  to  preach  that  he  was  "  The  Messiah," 
"The  Christ,"  "The  King,"  which  was  to  come?  Their 
preaching,  likewise,  after  his  death,  was  the  same.  This 
is  manifest  from  an  account  which  Luke  gives  in  the  Book 
of  Acts,  of  a  riot  which  such  preaching  occasioned  at 
Thessalonica.  "  The  Jews,"  says  he,  "  which  believed  not, 
moved  with  envy,  took  unto  them  certain  lewd  fellows  of 
the  baser  sort,  and  gathered  a  company,  and  set  all  the 


r 
Jesus  the  Christ  199 

city  on  an  uproar,  and  assaulted  the  house  of  Jason,  and 
sought  to  bring  them  out  to  the  people.  And  when  they 
found  them  not,  they  drew  Jason  and  certain  brethren 
unto  the  rulers  of  the  city,  crying,  these  that  have  turned 
the  world  upside  down  are  come  hither  also,  whom  Jason 
hath  received  ;  and  these  all  do  contrary  to  the  decrees  of 
Caesar;  saying  that  there  is  another  King,  one  Jesus" 
(Acts  xvii.,  5-7). 

Jesus  himself,  no  doubt,  at  one  period  of  his  life,  fa- 
voured this  idea.  The  following  suggestion  which  he  made 
to  the  Jews  with  reference  to  himself  evidences  that  he 
did,  "  Search  the  Scriptures ;  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have 
eternal  life ;  and  they  are  they  that  testify  of  me  "  (John 
v.,  39).  Of  course  he  could  have  reference,  in  these  words 
to  no  other  writings  than  those  of  the  Old  Testament,  the 
New  Testament  not  then  being  in  existence.  Admitting, 
then,  that  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  do  bear  all  the 
marks  whereby  men  might  have  known  Jesus  when  he 
came  among  them — such  as  those  to  which  we  have  before 
referred,  to  wit,  that  he  should  descend  from  David ;  be 
born  at  Bethlehem,  and  of  a  Virgin ;  and  that  he  should 
do  great  miracles  by  which  it  should  be  known  that  he 
was  come  to  be  a  temporal  king ;  and,  The  King  of  the 
Jews, — which  he  never  was, — still,  does  this  warrant  theo- 
logians in  putting  a  totally  different  construction  on  it,  by 
going  further  and  saying  that  he  was  not  only  a  temporal 
king,  but  that  he  was  the  King  of  Kings,  and  Lord  of 
Lords?  What  authority  have  they  for  doing  this?  We 
shall  presently  shew. 

The  principal  evidence  which  Christians  have  to  pro- 
duce in  support  of  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  is  the  working  of 
miracles.  In  order  to  claim  credence  for  his  miracles, 
they  are  necessarily  compelled  to  admit  the  validity  of  the 
miracles  of  Moses  and  of  the  Old  Testament  generally, 
some  of  which  are  said  to  have  been  wrought  by  persons 
who  were  considered  types  of  Jesus.  We  will  examine 


200         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

into  the  nature  of  these  first,  therefore.  Now  it  must  be 
admitted  that  there  are  some  references  made  in  the 
Scriptures  themselves  to  the  power  of  working  wonders, 
even  by  men  who  were  represented  to  be  at  variance  with 
God  and  His  people.  In  fact,  the  ability  to  perform  such 
acts  is  conceded  to  them.  But  they  are  also  said  to  have 
been  produced  by  magic  and  incantation. 

For  example,  when  we  read  that  after  the  rod  of  Moses 
had  been  cast  on  the  ground,  and  had  become  a  serpent 
(Exodus  vii.,  10,  12),  the  magicians  of  Egypt  did  the  same 
by  their  enchantments.  Again,  after  Moses  had  turned  the 
waters  of  the  Egyptian  streams,  rivers,  ponds,  and  pools 
of  water  into  blood  (Exodus  vii.,  20,  22)  the  magicians 
did  so  likewise  by  their  enchantments.  And  again,  when 
Aaron  had,  by  the  power  of  God,  brought  frogs  upon  the 
land  (Exodus  viii.,  6,  7)  the  magicians  also  did  so  by  their 
enchantments,  and  they  "  brought  up  frogs  upon  the  land 
of  Egypt." 

Now  enchantment  is  not,  as  many  think  it,  a  working 
of  strange  effects  by  spells  and  words,  but  imposture  and 
delusion  wrought  by  legerdemain ;  and  so  far  is  it  from 
being  supernatural,  that  the  impostors  who  practise  it  do 
not  resort  to  the  study  either  of  science  or  of  nature.  All 
they  do  is  to  impose  upon  the  ignorance,  stupidity,  and  su- 
perstition of  the  most  credulous.  So  that  all  that  miracle- 
working  consists  in  is  this,  that  the  enchanter  has  made 
himself  master  in  the  art  of  deception.  It  is,  therefore, 
not  a  good  or  laudable  thing  to  do  ;  it  is  bad,  wicked,  and 
detestable,  and  abhorrent  to  every  sensible  mind. 

What  a  reputation  for  miraculous  powers  (before  the 
science  of  the  course  of  the  stars  was  discovered)  might 
not  a  man  have  gained  had  he  truly  foretold  that  on  a 
certain  day,  or  at  a  certain  hour,  the  sun  would  be  dark- 
ened !  A  juggler,  also,  by  handling  the  appliances  of  his 
profession  (if  such  tricks  were  not  now  ordinarily  prac- 
tised), might  gain  for  himself  such  renown  for  ability  to 


Some  Miracles  Explained  201 

work  miracles  as  would  suggest  that  he  was  aided  by  the 
devil,  at  least,  if  by  no  higher  power. 

But  when  we  take  a  more  sensible  view  of  the  matter, 
and  look  upon  the  impostures  which  are  wrought  by  con- 
federacy, there  are  few  things  (however  impossible  they 
may  appear)  that  cannot  be  done  or  seem  to  be  done. 
And  however  glaring  the  fraud  may  be,  it  still  finds  dupes 
enough  ready  to  believe  in  it.  Two  men  conspiring,  one 
to  seem  lame,  the  other  to  cure  him  with  a  charm,  might 
deceive  a  few;  but  many  conspiring — one  to  seem  lame, 
another  to  cure  him,  and  all  the  rest  to  bear  witness  to  the 
cheat — might  deceive  many  men. 

The  seeming  miracle  of  raising  Lazarus  from  the  dead 
(if  it  were  ever  enacted)  was,  no  doubt,  the  result  of 
collusion ;  so  also  was  the  raising  to  life  of  the  ruler's 
daughter,  and  of  the  son  of  the  widow  of  Nain.  We  hesi- 
tate not  to  say  the  same  in  regard  to  all  other  instances 
where  the  gaining  of  credence  in  miracle-working  has  been 
attempted. 

None  of  the  miracles  with  which  the  old  histories  are 
filled  took  place  at  a  period  of  scientific  culture.  Scrutin- 
ising observation,  which  has  never  once  been  deceived, 
teaches  us  that  miracles  never  happen,  save  in  times  and 
countries  wherein  they  are  believed  without  examination, 
and  before  persons  whose  minds  are  already  prepared  to 
believe  them.  No  miracle  ever  .occurred  in  the  presence 
of  men  capable  of  testing  its  mysterious  character. 
Neither  common  people,  nor  men  of  the  world,  are  able 
to  apply  the  test.  It  requires  much  precaution  and  long 
habits  of  scientific  research.  In  our  days  have  we  not 
seen  almost  all  respectable  people  made  dupes  of  by  the 
grossest  frauds  and  the  most  puerile  illusions?  Transac- 
tions said  to  be  marvellous  and  attested  by  the  whole 
population  of  small  towns  have — thanks  to  a  severer 
scrutiny — been  satisfactorily  explained.  And  if  it  can  be 
proved  that  no  contemporary  so-called  miracles  will  bear 


202         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

to  be  inquired  into,  is  it  not  probable  also,  nay,  is  it  not 
more  than  probable,  that  the  miracles  of  the  past,  which 
have  all  been  performed  among  an  ignorant  populace, 
would  equally  present  their  share  of  illusion,  were  it  pos- 
sible to  criticise  them  in  detail  ? 

It  is  not,  then,  in  the  name  of  this  or  that  philosophy, 
but  in  the  name  of  universal  experience,  that  we  banish 
miracles  from  history.  Up  to  this  time  the  performance 
of  a  miracle  has  never  been  proved. 

In  the  aptitude  of  mankind  to  give  too  hasty  belief  to 
pretended  miracles,  therefore,  how  very  wisely  put  is  the 
caution  in  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  chapter,  and 
again,  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  Deuteronomy 
— that  we  take  not  any  for  prophets  who  teach  any  other 
religion  than  that  which  God,  through  His  messenger, 
Moses,  hath  established ;  nor  any,  though  he  teach  the 
same  religion,  whose  prediction  we  do  not  see  come  to  pass ! 

Jesus  taught  another  religion  than  that  of  Moses ;  and 
his  prediction,  that  his  second  coming  would  be  during 
the  lifetime  of  some  who  heard  him  so  predict,  did  not 
come  to  pass.  By  this  it  is  proved  that  the  Bible  test 
of  a  reliable  worker  of  miracles  is  adverse  to  the  preten- 
sions set  up  in  behalf  of  Jesus.  He  also  failed  to  estab- 
lish his  claim,  in  relation  to  having  been  sent  of  God  to 
be  temporal  ruler  of  the  Jews,  either  by  miracles  or  other- 
wise. Unfulfilled  also  is- the  idea  of  Jesus  in  relation  to 
the  destruction  of  the  earth  by  fire  and  the  formation  of 
a  new  one  in  its  place,  wherein  he  claimed  that  the  right- 
eous alone  were  to  dwell,  and  were  to  be  ruled  over  by 
him.  All  of  this  was  to  take  place,  according  to  Jesus' 
own  prediction,  before  the  generation  of  that  day  should 
pass  away ;  yet  now,  after  eighteen  hundred  years,  it  re- 
mains unaccomplished. 

We  add  a  few  remarks  in  regard  to  the  pretended  mir- 
acles described  by  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  as 
having  been  worked  by  Jesus. 


Further  Explanations  203 

There  is  undoubtedly  a  class  of  diseases  which  may  not 
be  cured  by  a  charm,  or  by  the  force  of  imagination,  or 
immediately  by  soothing  influences. 

Of  this  sort  was  that  of  the  woman  with  the  issue  of 
blood  of  long  standing.  Yet  there  is  another  class  of 
complaints,  or  conceits,  which  may  be  so  cured,  or  at 
least  appear  for  a  time  to  be  so.  Hence  the  account 
given  in  the  Gospels,  in  many  cases,  corresponds  to 
appearances  exhibited  at  the  time.  When  Jesus  dis- 
missed the  woman  having  the  issue  of  blood,  with  the 
words,  "  Thy  faith  hath  made  thee  whole,"  he  could  not 
have  expressed  himself  more  modestly,  and  it  may  be 
that  he  spoke  not  altogether  inappropriately.  She  may 
in  some  degree  have  been  benefited  by  her  faith ;  but 
she  could  not  have  been  instantaneously  and  entirely 
cured  of  a  disorder  like  the  one  in  question.  Faith,  hope- 
fulness, and  buoyancy  of  spirits  have  a  marked  tendency 
to  produce  beneficial  effects,  and  generally  do  so  in  almost 
all  descriptions  of  diseases, — but  this  in  a  way  altogether 
natural,  never  supernatural  or  miraculous.  The  firm 
belief  which  many  persons  had  in  Jesus  as  a  wonder- 
worker no  doubt  had  more  or  less  influence,  for  a  time  at 
least,  as  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  in  his  home  at  Naza- 
reth, by  reason  of  the  unbelief  of  the  people,  it  was  only 
in  a  few  cases  that  he  had  succeeded  (Matthew  xiii.,  58). 
It  was  supposed,  at  the  period  in  question,  that  there 
were  processes,  more  or  less  -efficacious,  for  driving  dis- 
eases away.  On  this  account  the  occupation  of  exorcist 
or  conjurer  was  a  regular  profession,  like  that  of  physi- 
cian, and  it  may  be  fairly  assumed  that  Jesus  had,  in  his 
lifetime,  the  reputation  of  possessing  the  profoundest 
secrets  of  this  art.  Many  singular  incidents  were  related 
in  connection  with  his  cures,  in  which  the  credulity  of  the 
people  gave  full  scope  for  his  encouragement,  as  at  this 
day.  In  Syria  they  regard  as  mad,  or  possessed  by  a 
demon,  people  who  are  only  somewhat  eccentric.  A 


204         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

gentle  word  in  such  cases  often  suffices  to  drive  away  the 
demon.  And  such  were,  doubtless,  the  means  employed 
by  Jesus.  At  that  time,  also,  the  fashionable  form  of 
complaint  among  the  Jews  was  possession  of  devils,  which 
accounts  for  his  popularity  as  a  caster  out  of  them.  We 
have  seen  this  morbid  condition  reappearing  in  our  own 
days  in  connection  with  the  newly  arisen  belief  in  spirits 
and  devils.  Nervous  and  mental  diseases,  which  other- 
wise would  have  appeared  simply  in  the  form  of  convul- 
sions, periodical  craziness,  and  the  like,  appeared  in 
connection  with  that  superstition  as  madness,  produced 
by  demoniacal  possession,  that  could  only  be  removed 
by  operating  on  the  delusion.  There  is  every  probability 
that  as  to  the  cause  of  this  disease  Jesus  shared  the  ideas 
of  his  age.  Hence,  on  account  of  its  frequently  yielding 
to  his  denunciation  in  the  name  of  God,  he  considered 
this  fact  a  sign  of  the  Messianic  times,  though  he  laid  the 
less  stress  upon  the  fact  as  regarded  himself  and  his  dis- 
ciples, because  he  saw  the  same  effect  produced  by  others 
whom,  in  this  respect,  he  placed  without  hesitation  on  a 
par  with  himself. 

In  cases  of  cure  of  this  kind  by  the  imagination,  it 
could  not  but  happen  sometimes  that,  with  the  excite- 
ment, the  imagined  relief  produced  by  it  also  passed 
away,  so  that  the  old  complaints  returned.  Jesus  him- 
self speaks  of  such  relapses,  not  merely  with  reference  to 
sick  persons  who  had  been  cured  by  himself,  but  gener- 
ally, so  that  we  may  be  sure  that  they  had  happened  in 
his  own  experience  as  well  as  in  that  of  others.  As 
regards  the  re-possession,  he  explains  it  as  the  return  of 
the  devil  that  had  been  driven  out,  with  a  fresh  accession 
of  strength.  We  infer  from  this  that  he  looked  upon 
the  cause  of  these  complaints  as  a  supernatural  one,  and 
his  power  of  removing  them  as  by  no  means  absolute. 

Now  we  have  to  speak  of  quite  another  description  of 
miracles,  said  to  have  been  enacted  by  Jesus,  which 


Different  Miracles  205 

involves  the  question  whether  God's  laws  in  relation  to 
physical  nature  are  invariably  the  same.  The  affimative 
is  at  this  day  so  well  established  by  science  and  every 
other  available  test  that  to  argue  the  subject  is  frivolous. 
We,  therefore,  deem  it  impossible  that  Jesus  should  ever, 
by  a  mere  blessing,  have  enormously  increased  existing 
means  of  nourishment.  It  is  impossible  that  he  could 
have  changed  water  into  wine.  Nor  can  he,  in  defiance 
of  the  law  of  gravity,  have  walked  upon  the  water  with- 
out sinking.  He  cannot  have  recalled  really  dead  men  to 
life.  Narratives  of  this  kind  have  their  existence  in  fable 
only ;  never  in  fact.  The  gross  ignorance  and  the  dark 
superstition  of  the  people  in  Jesus'  time  make  it  perfectly 
intelligible  that  even  cures  effected  by  means  obviously 
natural  were  considered  as  miracles. 

If  Jesus  could  cure  some  diseases  supernaturally  by  the 
mere  word  of  command,  why  not  all?  Why  resort  to 
manipulation,  and  the  applying  of  spittle  and  clay  to  the 
eyes  of  the  blind,  and  the  cleansing  with  water,  according 
to  Bible  narrative?  Here  is  evidently  a  judicious  dis- 
crimination between  complaints  which  may  be  affected 
purely  by  the  imagination  and  those  in  which  it  was 
deemed  necessary  to  resort  to  material  appliances.  Nat- 
ural means  were  evident,  while  credit  was  given  (for  what- 
ever good  may  have  resulted)  to  supernatural  means. 

Again,  the  most  wonderful  and  startling  of  all  the  mira- 
cles said  to  have  been  performed  by  Jesus  was  that  called 
the  raising  of  Lazarus.  If  this  ever  had  the  appearance 
of  being  performed  it  is  certain  that  Lazarus  was  not 
dead  ;  and  the  presumption  is  that  Jesus  knew  it.  This 
is  to  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  he  himself  intimated 
to  his  disciples  that  Lazarus  was  only  asleep.  Let  any 
candid  reader  examine  the  following  narrative  with  a  criti- 
cal eye,  and  see  if  something  of  this  kind  of  collusion 
cannot  be  detected  in  it:  "  Therefore  his  sisters  sent 
unto  him,  saying,  Lord,  behold  he  whom  thou  lovest  is 


206         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

sick.  When  Jesus  heard  that,  he  said,  This  sickness  is  not 
unto  death,  but  for  the  glory  of  God,  that  the  Son  of  God 
might  be  glorified  thereby.  .  .  .  These  things  said  he  ; 
and  after  that  he  saith  unto  them,  Our  friend  Lazarus  sleep- 
eth ;  but  I  go  that  I  may  awake  him  out  of  sleep.  Then 
said  his  disciples,  Lord,  if  he  sleep  he  shall  do  well. 
Howbeit  Jesus  spake  of  his  death  ;  but  they  thought  that 
he  had  spoken  of  taking  of  rest  in  sleep.  Then  said 
Jesus  unto  them  plainly,  Lazarus  is  dead.  And  I  am 
glad  for  your  sakes  that  I  was  not  there,  to  the  intent  ye 
may  believe  ;  nevertheless,  let  us  go  unto  him.  .  .  .  Jesus 
saith  unto  her,  Said  I  not  unto  thee,  that  if  thou  wouldst 
believe  thou  shouldst  see  the  glory  of  God  ?  Then  they 
took  away  the  stone  from  the  place  where  the  dead  was 
laid.  And  Jesus  lifted  up  his  eyes  and  said,  Father,  I 
thank  thee  that  thou  hast  heard  me.  And  I  knew  that 
thou  hearest  me  always  ;  but  because  of  the  people  which 
stand  by  I  said  it,  that  they  may  believe  that  thou  hast 
sent  me.  And  when  he  thus  had  spoken,  he  cried  with 
a  loud  voice,  Lazarus,  come  forth.  And  he  that  was  dead 
came  forth,  bound  hand  and  foot  with  grave  clothes,  and 
his  face  was  bound  about  with  a  napkin.  Jesus  saith  unto 
them,  Loose  him  and  let  him  go.  Then  many  of  the  Jews 
which  came  to  Mary  and  had  seen  the  things  which  Jesus 
did,  believed  on  him." 

According  to  the  testimony  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  it  was 
a  national  peculiarity  of  the  Jews  to  desire  signs  from  a 
man  in  whose  doctrine  they  were  asked  to  believe.  Moses 
was  supposed  to  have  spoken  to  the  people  before  the 
suppression  of  the  rebellious  adherents  of  Korah. — Num- 
bers xvi.,  28, — "  Hereby  ye  shall  know  that  the  Lord  hath 
sent  me  to  do  all  these  works ;  for  I  have  not  done  them 
of  mine  own  mind."  "The  Jews,"  St.  Paul  remarks, 
"  require  a  sign,  and  the  Greeks  seek  after  wisdom  "  (i 
Corinthians  i.  22). 

As  the  national  legend  of  the  Hebrews  had  attributed 


Jewish  Tests  of  the  Messiahship       207 

to  Moses,  one  of  the  most  eminent  prophets,  a  series  of 
such  miracles  as  might  then  be  read  in  the  books  held 
sacred  by  them,  it  was  natural  that  miracles  should,  in 
like  manner,  be  expected  of  every  one  who  claimed  to  be 
a  prophet  or  the  Messiah,  and  that  a  Teacher  should  not 
be  held  in  full  estimation  by  the  people  if  he  were  with- 
out this  proof  of  having  received  credentials  from  above. 
Accordingly,  it  is  quite  certain,  as  we  read  in  the  Gospels, 
that  on  more  than  one  occasion,  when  Jesus  put  forward 
pretensions  which  none  but  a  prophet  could  put  forward, 
he   was   met   by   the   demand    for  an   accrediting   sign. 
"  Master,"  said  they,  as  we  read  in  the  Gospel  of  Mat- 
thew, "  we  would  see  a  sign  from  thee."     On  two  other 
occasions,  likewise,  they  accosted  him  with   the  expres- 
sions of  a  wish  of   this  kind,  and  for  what  they  define 
more  accurately  as  a  sign  from  heaven — Matthew  xvi.,  i ; 
Mark  viii.,  2.     But    Jesus  refused  to  comply  with  their 
demands.     Up  to  this  time  his  pretension  went  no  fur- 
ther  than   that  he  was  a  teacher   sent  from   God.     He 
relied  upon  the  excellence  of  the  doctrine  that  he  taught 
as  an  evidence  that  he  was  sent;  and  this  he  declared. 
He,  therefore,  returned  a  summary  answer  to  the  demand 
for  a  sign.     No  sign,  whatever,  said  he,  shall  be  given  to 
this  evil  and  adulterous  generation.     By  the  term  "  gen- 
eration," we  understand  him  to  mean  his  contemporaries 
generally,  whose  want  of  susceptibility  and  whose  pervers- 
ity in  the  case  of  the  Pharisees  and  Scribes  came  under 
his  observation  in  a  particularly  glaring  manner.     It  was 
not  until  later,  and  probably  after  he  had  conceived  the 
idea  that  he  was  the  promised  Messiah,  that  he  saw  the 
policy  of  yielding,  as  he  did,  to  the  importunities  for  a 
sign.     The   answer   that   Jesus  gave  to  the  messengers 
of  the  Baptist,  who  were  sent  to  him  in  consequence  of 
a  series  of  miracles  which  he  was  then  performing,  and 
to  which  he  appealed  as  a  proof  of  his  Messianic  com- 
mission, appears  to  stand  in  direct  contradiction  to  his 


208         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

refusal  to  perform  signs  and  wonders.  When  John  the 
Baptist  sent  to  ask  Jesus  whether  he  was  the  promised 
Messiah,  or  whether  they  were  to  look  for  another,  John 
must  have  been  in  doubt  whether  those  miracles — similar 
ones  to  which  had  been  performed  by  the  prophets  in  the 
Old  Testament — did,  also,  on  this  occasion,  announce  only 
a  prophet,  or,  lastly,  and  once  for  all,  the  Messiah.  The 
sequel  has  shown  that  Jesus  was  not  the  expected  Mes- 
siah, inasmuch  as  he  never  occupied  the  throne  of  David. 
But,  however  Jesus  might  disclaim  the  performance  of 
material  miracles,  it  was  supposed,  according  to  the  mode 
of  thought  of  the  period  and  of  his  contemporaries,  that 
miracles  he  must  perform,  whether  he  would  or  not.  As 
soon  as  he  was  considered  a  prophet  (Luke  vii.,  16) — 
and  we  cannot  doubt  that  he  might  attain  this  character 
as  well  as  the  Baptist,  even  without  the  performance  of 
miracles — and  miraculous  powers  were  attributed  to  him, 
they  came,  of  course,  into  operation.  From  that  time, 
wherever  he  showed  himself,  sufferers  regularly  crowded 
upon  him,  in  order  only  to  touch  his  garments,  because 
they  expected  to  be  cured  by  doing  so — Matthew,  xiv., 
36;  Mark  iii.,  10,  vi.,  56;  Luke  vi.,  19.  And  it  would 
have  been  strange,  indeed,  if  there  had  been  no  cases 
among  all  these  in  which  the  force  of  excited  imagination 
or  impressions,  half  spiritual  and  half  sensuous,  produced 
either  actual  removal  or  temporary  mitigation  of  disease. 
Such  effect  was  ascribed  to  the  miraculous  powers  of 
Jesus. 

But,  besides  and  beyond  these  signs  as  a  test  of  the 
truth  of  the  mission  of  a  prophet,  there  were  other  means 
by  which  the  Jews  examined  his  claims,  and  particularly 
the  claims  of  one  aspiring  to  the  Messiahship.  Their  con- 
ceptions of  the  Messiah,  though  different  in  different  per- 
sons, agreed  nevertheless  in  this,  that  the  Messiah,  after 
the  opening  of  his  kingdom,  would  continue  to  reign 
over  his  followers  for  a  period  far  exceeding  the  natural 


Jewish  Tests  of  the  Messiahship       209 

duration  of  human  life.  According  to  Luke,  his  dominion 
was  absolutely  to  have  no  end.  "  He  shall  be  great,  and 
shall  be  called  the  Son  of  the  Highest :  and  the  Lord  God 
shall  give  unto  him  the  throne  of  his  father  David :  And 
he  shall  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  for  ever ;  and  of 
his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end  "  (Luke  i.,  32,  33). 

This  idea  we  find  borrowed  from  the  prophets  David, 
Isaiah,  Daniel,  and  others,  where  the  duration  of  his 
reign  is  said  to  be  a  thousand  years,  as  in  Revelation  xx., 
4.  If  he  died  at  last,  this  death  was  to  happen  to  all  life 
on  earth,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  about  a  change  into 
the  super-terrestrial  state.  But  in  no  case  could  he  die 
until  he  had  finished  his  work  and  executed  all  that  was 
expected  of  him.  In  no  case  could  he  be  cut  off,  as  a 
condemned  criminal,  submitting  to  superior  power. 

Now,  both  these  contingencies  had  occurred  to  Jesus. 
His  ministry,  as  the  pretended  Messiah,  was  broken  off ; 
and  it  was  broken  off  by  the  violence  practised  against 
him  by  the  Jews,  even  before  it  had  fully  begun.     The 
case,  then,  immediately  after  the  decease  of   Jesus,  be- 
tween the  Jews  of  the  ancient  faith  and  his  adherents 
stood  as  follows :  The  former  said,  "  Your  Jesus  cannot 
have  been  the  Messiah,  because  the  Messiah  is  to  continue 
for  ever.     He  was  not  to  die  until  after  a  long  period  of 
dominion   as   the    Messiah,  at   the  same  time  enjoying 
earthly  life  as  all  others.     But  your  Jesus  has  died  before 
the  time,  by  a  disgraceful  death,  without  having  done  any- 
thing expected  of  the  Messiah."     On  the  other  hand,  the 
latter  said,  "As  Jesus,   our  Messiah,  died  so  early,  the 
prophecies  which  promise  to  the  Messiah  that  he  shall 
endure  for  ever   can    only   have  meant   that   his   death 
should  not  subject  his  soul  to  a  continuance  in  hell,  nor 
his  body  to  corruption"  (Psalm  xvi.,   10;  Acts  ii.,  21); 
but  that  he  should  migrate  into  a  higher  life  with  God, 
from  whence  he  will  return  to   earth  at  his  own  time, 
in   order  to  bring  to  a   conclusion    his    work   that    was 


210         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

interrupted  through  your  guilt."  Now,  which  interpre- 
tation is  the  more  credible  and  probable?  Let  us  look 
further. 

All  the  prophecies  that  can,  with  any  consistency,  be 
construed  to  have  any  relation  to  the  office  of  Jesus'  Mes- 
siahship,  point  to  his  sitting  on  the  throne  of  David  in 
the  capacity  of  an  earthly  king,  and  thence  redeeming  the 
Jews  from  personal,  and,  perhaps,  incidentally  from  some 
degree  of  spiritual  and  mental  bondage  (Isaiah  ix.,  6,  7). 

That  the  Jews  at  the  time  of  Jesus'  ministry  among 
them  so  understood  it,  will  be  seen  by  the  following  cita- 
tion :  "  There  came  wise  men  from  the  east  to  Jerusalem, 
saying,  Where  is  he  that  is  born  King  of  the  Jews?  for 
we  have  seen  his  star  in  the  east,  and  are  come  to  wor- 
ship him.  .  .  .  And  when  he — Herod — had  gathered 
all  the  chief  priests  and  scribes  of  the  people  together,  he 
demanded  of  them  where  Christ  should  be  born.  And 
they  said  unto  him,  In  Bethlehem  of  Judea,  for  thus  it  is 
written  by  the  prophet,  And  thou  Bethlehem,  in  the  land 
of  Juda,  art  not  the  least  among  the  princes  of  Juda;  for 
out  of  thee  shall  come  a  Governor  that  shall  rule  my 
people  Israel  "  (Matthew  ii.,  1-6).  This  is  further  evinced 
by  the  inscription  which  Pilate  caused  to  be  put  on  the 
cross  upon  which  Jesus  was  crucified,  to  wit :  "  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  The  King  of  the  Jews,"  and  to  which  the  Jews 
objected,  saying,  "  Write  not  The  King  of  the  Jews,  but 
that  he  said,  I  am  King  of  the  Jews"  (John  xix.,  21). 
He  was  accused,  then,  by  the  Jews  of  claiming  to  be  their 
king  ;  and  it  is  evident  that  the  accusation  was  a  just  one. 

Indeed,  even  after  his  death,  it  was  still  the  belief  of 
the  Apostles  that  he  was  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour,  and 
that  he  was  raised  up  to  sit  on  the  throne  of  David.  In 
the  first  sermon  that  Peter  preached  (which  was  on  the 
Day  of  Pentecost),  he  addressed  himself  thus  to  the  as- 
sembled multitudes  that  surrounded  him :  "  Men  and 
brethren,  let  me  freely  speak  unto  you  of  the  patriarch 


The  Throne  of  David  2 1 1 

David,  that  he  is  both  dead  and  buried,  and  his  sepulchre 
is  with  us  unto  this  day.  Therefore,  being  a  prophet,  and 
knowing  that  God  had  sworn  with  an  oath  to  him,  that 
of  the  fruit  of  his  loins,  according  to  the  flesh,  he  would 
raise  up  Christ  to  sit  on  his  throne,"  etc.  (Acts  ii.,  20). 
And  when  this  same  Apostle  and  some  others  of  his  breth- 
ren had  been  arrested  for  preaching  in  his  name,  after 
the  alleged  resurrection  and  ascension  of  Jesus,  Peter  in 
his  defence  remarked :  "  Him  hath  God  exalted  with  his 
right  hand  to  be  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour,  for  to  give  re- 
pentance to  Israel  and  forgiveness  of  sins"  (Acts  v.,  31). 

This  proves  that  they  still  adhered  to  the  idea  that  his 
mission  was  to  save  the  Israelites  from  bondage  through 
the  medium  of  his  being  their  Prince ;  and  from  their 
sins,  by  preaching  repentance  to  them.  But,  was  the  son 
of  Mary,  the  wife  of  Joseph,  who  was  called  Christ,  sent 
to  sit  upon  the  throne  of  David  ? 

This  was  the  question  that  was  fairly  presented  to  the 
Jews,  both  by  Jesus  and  his  disciples  before  his  death, 
and  by  his  Apostles  after  his  death ;  and  it  is  quite  cer- 
tain that  it  took  a  political  phase,  and  was  canvassed,  on 
the  side  of  the  Apostles,  with  equal  skill  and  ardour  as 
are  such  questions  now.  The  point  at  issue  was,  belief 
or  non-belief  as  to  whether  Jesus,  as  the  appointed  of 
God,  was  to  occupy  the  throne  of  David.  Human  nature 
and  political  intriguing  having  the  same  sway  over  men's 
minds  then  as  at  present,  it  is  not  improbable  that  all 
things,  which  were  promised  to  those  that  believed,  were 
so  promised  in  order  to  swell  up  a  majority,  so  that  Jesus 
might  be  declared  a  King  by  acclamation,  and  the  leaders 
in  that  doctrine  be  thus  enabled  to  divide  the  spoils.  By 
the  flatteries  of  his  immediate  followers  and  of  those 
who  espoused  his  cause,  he  was  made  to  believe,  without 
doubt,  that  he  was  the  person  selected  by  God  to  serve 
in  the  capacity  here  indicated  ;  and,  hence,  in  view  of  his 
princely  honours  and  the  high  source  of  his  appointment, 


212          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

he  allowed  others  to  call  him,  and  called  himself,  "  Christ," 
"Lord,"  and  "the  Son  of  God,"  as  was  the  manner  of 
the  Jews  in  relation  to  persons  who  were  held  in  high 
estimation. 

This  was  his  attitude,  and  these  were  his  claims,  when 
the  question  was  being  agitated,  by  the  people,  as  to  his 
title  to  the  Jewish  throne.  They  were  instilled  and  fos- 
tered within  him  by  the  fanaticism  of  his  followers,  who 
repeatedly  proclaimed  with  shouts  and  acclamations  that 
he  was  the  promised  Messiah  —  the  King  whom  the  Jews 
expected  to  reign  over  them  (Mark  xi.,  9).  We  read  in 
St.  Matthew's  Gospel  that  the  multitudes  that  went 
before  and  that  followed  cried,  saying,  "  Hosanna  to  the 
Son  of  David,  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord,  Hosanna  in  the  Highest."  And  again  in  St. 
John,  "  that  when  he  perceived  that  they  would  come, 
and  take  him  by  force,  and  make  him  a  King,  he  departed 
again  into  a  mountain  himself  alone."  This  he  did, 
probably,  because,  by  his  far-sightedness,  he  saw  that 
the  time  had  not  yet  come  for  him  to  assert  his  right  to 
the  position,  there  being,  at  that  moment,  no  general 
movement  of  the  populace  to  support  him  in  his  claim. 

When  Jesus  had  completely  given  up  his  association 
with  Judaism  he  was  filled  with  revolutionary  ardour. 
The  innocent  aphorisms  of  the  first  part  of  his  prophetic 
career,  in  part  borrowed  from  the  Jewish  rabbis  anterior 
to  him,  and  the  beautiful  moral  precepts  of  his  second 
period,  are  exchanged  for  a  decided  policy.  The  Mes- 
siah had  come ;  and  he  was  the  Messiah.  The  kingdom 
of  God  was  about  to  be  revealed ;  and  it  was  he  who 
would  reveal  it.  It  was  by  crises  and  commotions  that 
it  was  to  be  established.  "  From  the  days  of  John  the 
Baptist,"  saith  he,  "  until  now,  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent  take  it  by  force" 
(Matthew  xi.,  12  )  ;  and  again,  "  The  law  and  the  prophets 
were  until  John  ;  since  that  time  the  kingdom  of  God 


A  Kingdom  to  be  Established        213 

is  preached,  and  every  man  presseth  into  it "  (John 
xvi.,  1 6). 

He  had  previously  contented  himself  with  quietly 
teaching  the  doctrines  of  purity  and  truth.  Now  he  pre- 
sented a  different  attitude  before  the  world.  He  was 
above,  and  beyond,  a  mere  simple  teacher  of  morality. 
He  was  a  prophet,  and  more  than  a  prophet,  and  to  be 
obeyed.  A  kingdom  was  to  be  established  by  him. 

In  his  paroxysm  of  heroic  will,  he  believed  himself  all 
powerful.  If  the  earth  would  not  submit  to  his  supreme 
transformation,  it  must  be  broken  up,  purified  by  fire, 
and  by  the  breath  of  God.  A  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth  would  be  created,  and  instead  of  men  it  would  be 
peopled  with  the  angels  of  God. 

A  radical  revolution,  embracing  even  nature  itself,  was 
now  the  fundamental  idea  of  Jesus.  But  much  darkness 
mixed  itself  with  even  his  most  correct  views.  Some- 
times strange  temptations  crossed  his  mind.  In  the 
desert  of  Judea,  Satan  had  offered  him  the  kingdoms 
of  the  earth.  Not  knowing  the  power  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  he  might,  with  the  enthusiasm  there  was  in  the 
heart  of  Judea,  which  ended  soon  after  in  so  terrible  an 
outbreak,  hope  to  establish  a  kingdom  by  the  number 
and  the  daring  of  his  partisans.  Many  times,  perhaps, 
the  supreme  question  presented  itself  —  Will  the  kingdom 
of  God  be  realised  by  force  or  gentleness,  by  revolt  or  by 
patience  ?  Much  vagueness  no  doubt  tinged  his  ideas. 
Our  principles  of  positive  science  are  offended  by  certain 
of  the  dreams  contained  in  the  programme  of  Jesus. 

There  was  a  contradiction  between  belief  in  the  ap- 
proaching end  of  the  world  and  the  general  moral  system 
which  he  advocated  in  prospect  of  a  permanent  state  of 
humanity.  He  prepared  his  disciples  for  treating  the 
civil  powers  with  contempt  by  not  deigning  to  make  any 
defence  when  brought  before  them.  He  wished  to  anni- 
hilate riches  and  power ;  and  it  was  his  dream  to  effect  a 


214         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

great  social  revolution,  in  which  rank  would  be  over- 
turned, and  where  all  authority  in  this  world  would  be 
humiliated  except  his  own,  he  fancying  himself  destined 
to  have  supreme  rule. 

He  gradually  became  more  and  more  imperious.  At 
about  thirty  years  of  age,  he  made  the  proclamation  of 
his  Messiahship,  and  the  affirmation  of  the  coming  catas- 
trophe in  which  he  was  to  figure  as  judge,  clothed  with 
the  full  powers  which  had  been  delegated  to  him  by  the 
Ancient  of  Days.  "  The  Father,"  said  he,  "  judgeth  no 
man,  but  hath  committed  all  judgment  unto  the  Son  " 
(John  v.,  22  ) ;  evidently  imagining  that  he,  to  whom  the 
title  of  the  Son  was  given,  would  be  appointed  to  judge 
his  fellow-creatures.  His  family  were  strongly  opposed 
to  him,  and  plainly  refused  to  believe  in  his  mission  or 
pretensions.  The  Nazarenes,  much  more  violent,  wished, 
it  is  said,  to  kill  him  by  throwing  him  from  a  steep  rock : 
"  And  all  they  in  the  synagogue,  when  they  heard  these 
things,  were  rilled  with  wrath,  and  rose  up,  and  thrust 
him  out  of  the  city  and  led  him  unto  the  brow  of  the 
hill  whereon  their  city  was  built,  that  they  might  cast 
him  down  headlong  "  (Luke  iv.,  28,  29). 

If  Jesus  conceived  that  he  was  the  Messiah,  and 
referred  the  prophecy  in  Daniel  to  the  Messiah,  and 
expected  in  accordance  with  it  to  come  with  the  clouds 
of  heaven  in  his  own  person,  as  proclaimed  by  him,  he 
not  only  appears  to  us  in  the  light  of  a  fanatic,  but  we 
see  also  an  unallowable  self-exaltation  in  a  man's  (and  it 
is  only  of  a  human  being  that  we  are  everywhere  speak- 
ing) so  putting  himself  above  every  one  else,  as  to  con- 
trast himself  with  them  as  their  future  judge.  And,  in 
doing  so,  Jesus  must  have  completely  forgotten  how  he 
had  on  one  occasion  disclaimed  the  epithet  of  good,  as 
one  belonging  to  God  alone. 

The  title  of  "  Son  of  David  "  was  the  first  which  he 
accepted,  probably  without  being  concerned  in  the  inno- 


Jesus  the  Messiah  215 

cent  frauds  by  which  it  was  sought  to  secure  it  to  him. 
The  universal  belief  was  that  the  Messiah  would  be  the 
son  of  David,  and  like  him  would  be  born  at  Bethlehem. 
The  first  idea  of  Jesus  was  perhaps  not  precisely  this. 
But  public  opinion  on  this  point  made  him  do  violence  to 
himself.  The  immediate  consequence  of  the  proposition, 
"  Jesus  is  the  Messiah,"  was  this  other  proposition, "  Jesus 
is  the  son  of  David."  He  allowed  a  title  to  be  given 
him,  without  which  he  could  not  hope  for  success.  In 
this,  as  in  many  other  circumstances  of  his  life,  Jesus 
yielded  to  the  ideas  which  were  current  in  his  time, 
although  they  were  not  precisely  his  own.  He  associated 
with  his  doctrine  of  the  "  kingdom  of  God  "  all  that  could 
warm  the  heart  and  the  imagination.  It  was  thus  that 
we  have  seen  him  adopt  the  baptism  of  John,  although 
it  could  not  have  been  of  much  importance  to  him.  "  The 
woman  saith  unto  him,  I  know  that  Messias  cometh, 
which  is  called  Christ :  when  he  is  come,  he  will  tell  us 
all  things.  Jesus  saith  unto  her,  I  that  speak  unto  thee 
am  he  "  (John  iv.,  25,  26).  It  is  evident  that  Jesus 
made  no  such  announcement  in  relation  to  himself  during 
the  early  part  of  his  ministry.  The  remark  of  the  woman, 
and  his  reply,  is  proof  that  no  such  idea  was  then  current. 
And  this  is  corroborated  by  John,  while  imprisoned, 
sending  to  inquire  of  Jesus  whether  he  laid  claim  to 
being  the  expected  Messiah.  Now  if  the  character  and 
mission  of  Jesus  were  what  the  theologians  claim,  it  is 
incomprehensible  why  his  course  and  conduct  in  each  and 
every  part,  and  as  a  whole,  should  not  have  been  more  in 
conformity  with  our  conception  of  a  fair  representation  of 
normal  man  and  a  perfect  God  than  was  the  case.  Jesus 
was  probably  led  to  imagine  that  he  was  the  expected 
Messiah  by  the  homage  done  to  him  by  his  admirers,  and 
those  who  deceived  themselves  about  him.  This  idea, 
however,  he  abandoned  as  far  as  he  himself  was  con- 
cerned ;  and  he  must  have  felt  (and  felt  most  bitterly  at 


216         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

the  last)  that  he  had  been  deceiving  himself  as  to  his 
true  position,  otherwise  he  would  not  have  exclaimed  as 
he  did,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  " 
(Mark  xv.,  34). 

This  one  acknowledgment,  of  his  subordination  to  God, 
made  so  exactly  after  the  manner  of  an  ordinary  man 
disappointed  in  his  aim  and  unexpectedly  brought  to  the 
last  struggle  of  life,  should  set  at  rest,  as  we  conceive, 
the  assumption  that  he  was  either  the  predicted  Messiah 
or  co-equal  with  God.  When  he  answered  the  woman  as 
he  did,  it  is  probable  that  he  thought  himself  to  be  what 
he  said  he  was.  He  thought,  likewise,  no  doubt,  that 
by  gaining  the  confidence  and  credence  of  the  people  in 
him  as  the  Christ,  it  would  favour  his  ascension  to  the 
throne,  as  the  King  of  the  Jews.  The  great  desideratum 
with  him  and  with  his  Apostles  was,  to  induce  the  people 
to  believe  that  the  person  then  among  them  was  the 
Christ,  was  the  identical  person  to  whom  the  Prophets 
pointed  as  destined  to  rule  as  king  over  the  Jews  per- 
petually, upon  earth.  A  majority  of  such  believers  being 
obtained,  the  road  was  plain  and  the  way  sure  to  the 
aggrandisement  of  both  him  and  themselves.  And  so 
confident  were  they  in  their  expectations  of  success  that, 
politician-like,  they  began  to  squabble  and  to  importune 
him,  in  advance,  for  the  honours  and  spoils  that  would  fall 
to  the  lot  of  each,  when  he  should  have  attained  to  the 
throne.  That  this  squabbling  for  place  had  relation  to 
temporal  affairs — matters  pertaining  to  this  life — and  not 
to  those  beyond  the  grave,  is  shown  by  the  Gospel  itself. 
St.  Luke  says  (ix.,  46),  "  Then  there  arose  a  reasoning 
among  them,  which  of  them  should  be  greatest " ;  and 
again  (xxii.,  24-29),  "And  there  was  also  a  strife 
among  them  which  of  them  should  be  accounted  the 
greatest.  And  he  said  unto  them,  The  kings  of  the  Gen- 
tiles exercise  lordship  over  them  ;  and  they  that  exercise 
authority  upon  them  are  called  benefactors.  But  ye  shall 


Object  of  Christ  and  Apostles         217 

not  be  so ;  but  he  that  is  greatest  among  you,  let  him  be 
as  the  younger ;  and  he  that  is  chief,  as  he  that  doth 
serve.  For  whether  is  greater,  he  that  sitteth  at  meat,  or 
he  that  serveth  ?  is  not  he  that  sitteth  at  meat  ?  but  I 
am  among  you  as  he  that  serveth  ?  Ye  are  they  which 
have  continued  with  me  in  my  temptations.  And  I 
appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom,  as  my  Father  hath  appointed 
unto  me ;  that  ye  may  eat  and  drink  at  my  table,  in 
my  kingdom,  and  sit  on  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes 
of  Israel."  Now,  no  one  will  deny,  we  presume,  that 
this  has  reference  to  temporal  affairs,  and  that  it  was  so 
understood  by  those  to  whom  it  was  spoken.  If  so,  it 
evidently  accounts  for  the  Apostles  being  stimulated  to 
use  every  available  device  for  the  purpose  of  making  and 
retaining  believers ;  and  it  is  corroborated  by  the  kind  of 
teaching  or  belief  which  Jesus  was  so  solicitous  to  incul- 
cate in  relation  to  himself,  as  shown  by  reference  also 
to  Gospel  authority.  St.  Matthew  (xxii.,  41,42)  says: 
"  While  the  Pharisees  were  gathered  together,  Jesus 
asked  them,  saying,  What  think  ye  of  Christ  ?  whose  son 
is  he?  They  say  unto  him,  The  son  of  David."  Again, 
"  And  Jesus  answered  and  said,  while  he  taught  in  the 
temple,  How  say  the  scribes  that  Christ  is  the  son  of 
David  "  (Mark  xii.,  35).  His  motive  in  asking  these  ques- 
tions is  unmistakable,  and  shows  how  anxious  he  was 
to  have  his  lineal  descent  traced  from  the  House  of  David, 
and  consequently  his  title  to  the  throne  of  the  Jews  estab- 
lished, and  believed  in,  and  publicly  proclaimed.  Hence 
his  declaration :  "  Whosoever  therefore  shall  confess  me 
before  men,  him  will  I  confess  also  before  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven.  But  whosoever  shall  deny  me  before 
men,  him  will  I  also  deny  before  my  Father  which  is  in 
heaven  "  (Matthew  x.,  32,  33). 

The  importance  of  confession  before  men  is  manifest, 
and  especially  in  such  a  case  as  this,  where  Jesus  was  to 
be  proclaimed  as  King.  It  is  not  at  all  an  uncommon 


218         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

thing  for  men  of  influence  to  declare  and  commit  them- 
selves in  favour  of  a  certain  political  tenet,  or  on  the  side 
of  an  individual  who  is  an  aspirant  for  a  high  position  in 
the  government  of  a  country ;  and  it  is  often  the  case 
that  the  public  announcement  of  such  a  course  gives  eclat 
and  impetus  to  the  cause  or  party  interest  which  is  being 
pushed  forward.  A  large  portion  in  all  communities,  who 
do  not  take  the  trouble  to  think  for  themselves,  are  con- 
tinually, heedlessly,  and  thoughtlessly  following  the  lead 
of  prominent  men. 

Viewed  in  this  light,  the  public  avowal  of  Jesus  had 
a  twofold  advantage,  first,  of  binding  the  new  disciples 
more  firmly  to  the  new  faith,  and,  secondly,  of  increasing 
the  popularity  of  the  pretender.  But  when  viewed  in  re- 
lation to  religious  matters  one  cannot  avoid  calling  to 
mind  that  precept  which  condemns  such  a  course,  and 
which  teaches  us  to  be  more  modest  and  retiring.  "  He 
that  exalteth  himself  shall  be  abased ;  but  he  that 
humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted."  This  will  occur  to 
us  more  strongly  when  Jesus'  avowal  is  viewed  in  relation 
to  the  ostentation  of  the  Pharisees,  who  sounded  a  trum- 
pet before  them  in  the  synagogues  and  in  the  streets,  that 
they  might  be  seen  and  heard  of  men,  as  Jesus  himself 
had  noted  and  condemned. 

All  conceivable  good  was  promised  for  simply  believing 
in  Jesus'  Divine  right  to  the  throne  of  his  ancestors,  and 
the  public  committal  to  such  espousal  of  Jesus'  preten- 
sions by  baptism.  The  Apostles,  like  the  politicians  of 
our  day,  had  learned  from  experience  that  one  party  is 
constantly  winning  back  some  portion  of  the  converts 
which  the  other  has  made ;  hence,  the  policy  of  sealing 
the  new  faith  with  a  public  pledge  and  formal  act. 

This  temporal  or  worldly  interest,  it  is  evident,  was  the 
great  and  only  object  that  led  and  stimulated  Jesus  and 
his  disciples  to  encourage  such  zeal  in  the  belief  and 
pledge  in  question.  In  all  such  efforts  to  propagate  the 


Teaching  against  Hypocrisy          219 

interests  of  their  Master,  the  conduct  of  the  Apostles  was 
true  to  the  instincts  of  the  most  adroit  politicians — fully 
up  to  the  best  party  manoeuvring  of  our  day — and  lacks 
nothing  in  the  adaptation  of  the  means  to  the  ends,  pro- 
vided double-dealing  and  false  pretences  are  conceded  to 
be  admissible  in  such  matters.  But,  when  men  teach  that 
all  who  do  not  believe  that  Jesus  was  the  person  to  whom 
the  Prophets  had  reference  in  their  predictions,  when 
they  assigned  a  king  to  the  Jews,  will  be  condemned  by 
God  to  everlasting  torment,  they  teach  what  is  opposed 
to  every  rational  and  just  view  that  can  be  taken  on  the  sub- 
ject ;  and,  as  it  has  never  been  propounded  to  or  heard  of 
by  one  in  a  thousand  of  the  men  born  into  the  world,  it  is 
impossible  that  anything  which  places  God  so  directly  at 
variance  with  even  man's  sense  of  justice  can  be  true. 

When  Jesus  undertook  to  teach  natural  religion,  which 
is  love  to  God  and  good  will  towards  men  manifested  by 
good  works,  he  struck  at  the  root  and  influence  of  the 
whole  system  of  the  Jewish  religion  and  priesthood.  In 
speaking  of  God  as  the  Father  of  all  mankind,  he  incurred 
their  displeasure,  and  raised  their  ire  beyond  measure ; 
because  they  claimed  that  they  alone  were  the  children 
of  God.  When  he  denounced  their  ceremonials,  their 
sacrifices,  their  pride,  and  their  self-righteousness,  he 
brought  upon  himself  a  storm  of  persecution  and  abuse 
which,  at  last,  instigated  them  to  murder  him.  That  he 
disapproved  of,  and  highly  condemned,  their  whole  cere- 
monial law  and  teaching  as  works  of  supererogation 
and  hypocrisy,  the  following  denunciations  against  them 
prove :  "  If  ye  had  known  what  this  meaneth,  I  will  have 
mercy  and  not  sacrifice,  ye  would  not  have  condemned 
the  guiltless  "  (Matthew  xii.,  7)  ;  "  For,  laying  aside  the 
commandment  of  God,  ye  hold  the  tradition  of  men  as 
the  washing  of  pots  and  of  cups ;  and  many  other  such 
like  things  ye  do  "  (Mark  vii.,  8) ;  "  Ye  reject  the  com- 
mandment of  God  that  ye  may  keep  your  own  tradition  " 


220         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

(Matthew  vii.,  9) ;  "  And  when  thou  prayest,  thou  shalt 
not  be  as  the  hypocrites  are ;  for  they  love  to  pray  stand- 
ing in  the  synagogues,  and  in  the  corners  of  the  streets, 
that  they  may  be  seen  of  men  "  (Matthew  vi.,  5) ;  "  They 
think  that  they  shall  be  heard  for  their  much  speaking  " 
(Matthew  iii.,  7)  ;  "  Your  Father  knoweth  what  things 
ye  have  need  of  before  ye  ask  him  "  (Matthew  vi.,  8). 

Now,  what  could  have  been  better  calculated  to  raise 
against  Jesus  the  fierce  indignation  of  the  priests,  than 
such  an  unmitigated  condemnation  of  the  very  things 
they  most  trusted  in,  and  from  which  they  derived  their 
great  power  and  influence  ?  The  religion  which  he  taught, 
and  which  harmonises  so  beautifully  with  the  true  instincts 
of  natural  religion,  could  not  but  become  popular  with  the 
common  people,  and  to  such  an  extent  that  the  priesthood 
were  alarmed  lest  they  should  lose  their  long-enjoyed 
ascendency.  The  result  was  that  they  could  not  rest  sat- 
isfied until  they  had  succeeded  in  having  Jesus  arraigned 
before  the  Roman  authorities,  on  the  double  charge  of 
laying  claim  to  be  King  of  the  Jews,  and  blasphemy ; 
"  But  the  Jews  cried  out  saying,  If  thou  let  this  man  go 
thou  art  not  Caesar's  friend  :  whosoever  maketh  himself  a 
king  speaketh  against  Caesar"  (John  xix.,  12);  "  Then 
the  high  priest  rent  his  clothes  and  saith,  What  need  we 
any  further  witnesses  ?  Ye  have  heard  the  blasphemy  " 
(Mark  xiv.,  63,  64).  The  plan  adopted  by  his  enemies  was 
to  convict  him  by  the  testimony  of  witnesses ;  and,  by  his 
own  avowal  of  blasphemy  and  outrage  against  the  Mosaic 
religion,  to  condemn  him  to  death  according  to  their  law  ; 
and  then  to  get  their  verdict  sanctioned  by  Pilate,  the 
Roman  Governor.  The  fatal  sentence  which  Jesus  had 
really  uttered  :  "  I  am  able  to  destroy  the  temple  of  God, 
and  to  build  it  in  three  days,"  was  cited  by  two  witnesses. 
To  blaspheme  the  temple  of  God  was,  according  to  the 
Jewish  law,  to  blaspheme  God  Himself.  "  And  whoso 
shall  swear  by  the  altar  sweareth  by  it,  and  by  all  things 


Hatred  of  the  Priesthood  221 

thereon.  And  he  that  sweareth  by  the  temple,  sweareth 
by  it,  and  by  him  that  dwelleth  therein  "  (Matthew  xxiii., 
21,  22).  Now,  these  crimes  were  punished  by  the  law  with 
death :  "  And  thou  shalt  speak  unto  the  children  of 
Israel,  saying,  Whosoever  curseth  his  God  shall  bear  his 
sin.  And  he  that  blasphemeth  the  name  of  the  Lord,  he 
shall  surely  be  put  to  death"  (Leviticus  xxiv.,  15,  16). 
Accordingly,  with  one  voice,  the  assembly  declared  him 
guilty  of  a  capital  crime,  which  decision  being  confirmed 
by  Pilate,  his  execution  took  place.  His  conviction  and 
death,  under  the  foregoing  circumstances,  it  is  well 
known,  were  brought  about  at  the  instigation  and  by  the 
hatred  of  the  priesthood,  in  consequence  of  his  espousal 
and  persistent  teaching  of  the  religion  of  the  heart  and 
conscience.  He,  it  was,  we  all  know,  who  was  the  great 
champion  and  defender  of  the  simple  doctrines  of  love  to 
God  and  love  to  man,  apart  from  the  sacrifices  and  cere- 
monies of  the  Jewish  ritual.  This,  as  we  have  said,  greatly 
incensed  the  priests,  because  it  brought  into  disrepute 
their  whole  system.  It  diminished  the  influence  which 
they  had  gained  through  their  ceremonies  and  sacrifices, 
and  made  them  (themselves)  unpopular.  And,  having 
crucified  him  under  these  false  pretences,  by  this  act  they 
caused  him  to  become  a  thousandfold  more  potent  to  do 
the  very  thing  they  sought  to  get  rid  of  by  procuring  his 
death.  This  admirable  trait  in  human  character — the  en- 
thusiastic espousal  of  the  cause  and  the  yielding  of  our 
sympathies  on  the  side  of  the  oppressed  and  ill-used — so 
increased  his  popularity,  that  the  views  which  he  took  of 
religion,  and  his  power  of  discrimination  between  the 
good,  the  false,  and  the  true,  only  served  the  more  to  in- 
crease the  popularity  of  natural  religion.  At  the  same 
time  it  is  to  be  observed  that  all  this  occurred  in  the  midst 
of  the  Jews,  whose  natural  leanings  and  old  habits  induced 
them,  in  course  of  time,  to  graft  upon  the  purer  doc- 
trines that  Jesus  taught  a  portion  of  their  own  rites  and 


222         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

ceremonies.  Among  these,  sacrifice  was  pre-eminent.  But 
what  was  worse  still,  they  took,  as  the  basis  of  their  creed 
and  worship,  the  sacrifice  of  the  death  of  him  to  whom 
such  a  creed  and  worship  were  so  obnoxious  as  to  merit 
and  receive  his  most  unsparing  and  untiring  opposition. 
And  in  this  connection  it  is  important  to  bear  in  mind 
that  Jesus  himself  said  not  a  word  to  justify  this  inter- 
pretation of  his  death.  On  the  contrary,  he  said  every- 
thing that  he  could  against  the  principle  of  Judaism,  on 
which  it  all  rests.  His  course  in  this  respect  is  most 
significant ;  and  if  candidly  considered,  from  a  common- 
sense  point  of  view,  will,  as  we  conceive,  leave  this  funda- 
mental doctrine  of  the  Christian  Church  without  a  rational 
foundation  to  rely  on.  There  is  not  the  faintest  allusion 
in  any  of  Jesus'  discourses  or  parables  to  his  being  a 
sacrifice  for  sin,  or  to  God's  requiring  any  blood  to  be 
shed  before  He  would  forgive  sinners.  With  this  indis- 
putable fact  before  us,  it  is  incomprehensible  how  they 
who  now  teach  this  doctrine  can  justify  themselves  in 
allowing  this  Jewish  excrescence  to  be  grafted  upon  the 
religion  originally  taught  by  Jesus.  We  can,  to  some 
extent,  excuse  the  Jews  for  carrying  with  them  the  doc- 
trines to  which  they  had  been  accustomed  for  ages,  but 
for  others,  who  look  with  aversion  upon  the  Jewish  sacri- 
fices, even  of  animal  life,  there  can  be  no  excuse.  The 
result  is  that  a  leading  doctrine  of  Christian  theology  has 
come  down  to  us  from  that  very  class  of  men  who  hated 
and  stoned  Jesus  and  put  him  to  death.  This  is  not  only 
a  different  mode  of  worship  from  that  which  he  taught, 
but  it  is  at  direct  variance  with  it. 

The  Churches  teach  that  Jesus  came  to  abolish  the  old 
Jewish  law  and  its  ceremonies,  and  especially  that  part  of 
the  law  which  relates  to  sacrifices ;  and  that,  as  a  substi- 
tute therefor,  he  offered  the  shedding  of  his  own  blood 
upon  the  cross  as  an  atonement  for  the  sins  of  the  people. 

Now,  this  teaching  Jesus  himself  contradicts.     He  says 


Jesus  Repudiates  Sacrifice  223 

he  came  to  bear  witness  to  the  truth  of  the  moral  law,  and 
to  call  sinners  to  repentance.  When  he  is  asked  what  is 
necessary  to  be  done  that  we  may  inherit  eternal  life, 
he  gives  full  and  explicit  directions,  comprised  in  what  we 
term  the  commandments.  In  them  we  do  not  find  that 
sacrifice  of  himself,  or  of  anything  else,  is  mentioned. 

When  he  is  asked  the  question  referred  to,  he  does  not 
seem  to  have  entertained  the  idea  that  he  was  the  pre- 
dicted Messiah.  Neither  did  he  imagine  that  he  was  to 
be  made  a  substitute  for  the  sacrifices  of  the  Jewish  reli- 
gion. Hence,  he  had  nothing  whatever  to  say  about 
salvation  through  his  atonement. 

The  young  man  who  enquires  of  Jesus  as  to  the  condi- 
tions of  entering  into  eternal  life  is  told  to  keep  the  com- 
mandments. He  says  he  has  done  so,  from  his  youth  up. 
He  is  then  told  that,  on  account  of  this,  he  is  not  far  from 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  But  the  reason  assigned  for 
his  not  absolutely  attaining  thereunto  is  that  he  does  not 
exercise  charity.  He  is  allowed  therefore,  to  go  away 
with  the  impression  that  if  he  can  only  do  this  he  is  safe ; 
and  yet  we  are  told  by  the  theology  of  the  times  that 
there  was  something  else  necessary  to  which  Jesus  did  not 
make  the  remotest  allusion. 

Now,  all  this  is  irreconcilable  and  at  variance  with 
God's  indisputable  justice  and  goodness.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  conceive  that  God  should  punish  any  one  of  His 
creatures  everlastingly  for  not  believing  that  which  they 
never  had  the  slightest  intimation  that  it  was  any  part  of 
their  duty  to  God  or  man  to  believe.  We  defy  any  one 
to  find  one  single  passage  in  the  whole  New  Testament, 
wherein  Jesus  declares  it  necessary,  or  wherein  he  even 
solicits  belief  in  himself  as  a  sacrifice.  He  calls  upon 
men,  we  admit,  to  believe  in  him,  as  being  the  predicted 
Messiah  and  as  a  true  teacher  ;  but  never  as  a  true  Saviour 
of  the  souls  of  men  beyond  the  grave,  by  any  other  means 
than  the  saving  efficacy  of  the  doctrine  which  he  taught. 


224         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

In  order  to  show  still  more  convincingly  that  Jesus  did 
not  teach  that  anything  else  was  necessary  for  salvation 
than  good  works,  and  that  no  such  thing  as  sacrifices, 
either  of  slain  beasts  or  of  himself,  was  in  any  way 
required,  we  now  refer  to  the  occasion  when  we  were 
taught  upon  what  principle  we  shall  all  be  judged.  Jesus 
there  imagines  himself  to  be  the  arbiter,  who  is  to  decide 
between  men  and  their  God  ;  and,  in  so  doing,  assimilates 
men  under  two  conditions  to  a  promiscuous  flock  of  sheep 
and  goats.  As  a  shepherd,  says  he,  divideth  his  sheep 
from  the  goats  so  will  he  divide  the  good  from  the  bad  ; 
and  he  will  set  the  sheep  —  those  who  represent  the  good 
—  on  the  right  hand,  but  the  goats — the  bad  —  on  his  left. 
"  Then,"  he  continues,  "  shall  the  King  say  to  those  on 
his  right  hand,  Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit 
the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world.  For  I  was  a  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat :  I 
was  a  stranger  and  ye  took  me  in  :  naked  and  ye  clothed 
me  :  I  was  sick  and  ye  visited  me  :  I  was  in  prison  and 
ye  came  unto  me.  Then  shall  the  righteous  answer  him, 
saying,  Lord,  when  saw  we  thee  a  hungered  and  fed  thee  ? 
or  thirsty  and  gave  thee  drink?  When  saw  we  thee  a 
stranger  and  took  thee  in  ?  Or  when  saw  we  thee  sick, 
or  in  prison  and  came  unto  thee  ?  And  the  King  shall 
answer  and  say  unto  them,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Inas- 
much as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these 
my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me."  He  then  goes 
on  to  address,  in  their  own  proper  character,  those  on  his 
left  in  a  correspondingly  diverse  manner. 

What  then  are  the  conditions  here  laid  down  as  those 
upon  which  men  are  to  be  acquitted  or  condemned  by 
the  most  solemn  tribunal  sitting  upon  men's  actions  that 
could  be  pictured  to  the  imagination  ?  Are  they  whether 
a  man  believed  in  this  dogma  or  that  dogma  ?  Whether 
the  Jew  attended  to  the  strict  observance  of  the  sacrifices 
and  ceremonies  of  his  religion  or  not?  Whether  the 


The  Old  Testament  on  Sacrifice      225 

Christian  believed  in  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  or  not  ? 
Whether  the  Mohammedan  believed  in  Mohammed  or 
not  ?  the  Hindoo  in  Juggernaut  ?  or  the  Chinese  in 
Confucius?  Nothing  of  the  kind.  Belief  in  no  man  is 
required.  Faith  in  no  system  is  expected.  The  offering 
of  no  sacrifice  is  looked  for.  What  is  requisite  is  simply 
this,  doing  unto  others  as  we  would  they  should  do  unto 
us  ;  love  to  God  and  love  to  man,  manifested  by  our 
works  of  charity  and  goodness,  an  amplifying,  so  to 
say,  of  Jesus'  final  exhortation  to  the  rich  man  already 
mentioned. 

But  the  Bible  furnishes  other  evidence  tending  to  the 
same  conclusions.  The  Old  Testament  is  so  full  of  the 
condemnation  of  sacrifices  and  other  superstitions  from 
the  pens  of  prophets  and  others  that  only  a  limited  num- 
ber of  examples  can  be  selected  for  these  pages.  What 
said  Samuel  to  King  Saul,  after  the  latter  had  returned 
from  the  slaughter  of  the  Amalekites  and  brought  with 
him  the  best  of  the  sheep  and  the  oxen  for  sacrificial  pur- 
poses, contrary  to  the  instructions  which  he  had  received 
to  slay  all  and  spare  none,  neither  man  nor  woman,  infant 
nor  suckling,  ox  nor  sheep,  camel  nor  ass  ?  "  Hath  the 
Lord  as  great  delight  in  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices,  as 
in  obeying  the  voice  of  the  Lord  ?  Behold,  to  obey  is 
better  than  sacrifice,  and  to  hearken  than  the  fat  of 
rams  "  (i  Samuel  xv.,  22).  What  saith  the  Psalmist  ? 
"  Sacrifice  and  offering  thou  didst  not  desire ;  mine 
ears  hast  thou  opened ;  burnt  offering  and  sin-offering 
hast  thou  not  required  "  (Psalm  xl.,  6).  And  again,  "  For 
thou  desirest  not  sacrifice ;  else  would  I  give  it  thee  : 
thou  delightest  not  in  burnt  offering "  (Psalm  li.,  16). 
What  saith  the  wise  man  Solomon  ?  "  Keep  thy  foot 
when  thou  goest  to  the  house  of  God,  and  be  more  ready 
to  hear  than  to  offer  the  sacrifice  of  fools  "  (Ecclesiastes 
v.,  i).  What  say  the  prophets  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Hosea, 
and  Malachi  ?  "  To  what  purpose  is  the  multitude  of 


226         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

your  sacrifices  unto  me  ?  saith  the  Lord :  I  am  full  of  the 
burnt  offerings  of  rams,  and  the  fat  of  fed  beasts :  and  I 
delight  not  in  the  blood  of  bullocks,  or  of  lambs,  or  of 
he-goats "  (Isaiah  i.,  1 1).  "  Bring  no  more  vain  obla- 
tions :  incense  is  an  abomination  unto  me  :  the  new  moons 
and  Sabbaths,  the  calling  of  assemblies,  I  cannot  away 
with  :  it  is  iniquity,  even  the  solemn  meeting  "  (Isaiah 
i.,  13).  "  To  what  purpose  cometh  there  to  me  incense 
from  Sheba,  and  the  sweet  cane  from  a  far  country  ?  your 
burnt  offerings  are  not  acceptable,  nor  your  sacrifices 
sweet  unto  me  "  (Jeremiah  vi.,  20).  "  They  sacrifice  flesh 
for  the  sacrifices  of  mine  offerings,  and  eat  it:  but  the 
Lord  accepteth  them  not ;  now  will  he  remember  their 
iniquity,  and  visit  their  sins"  (Hosea  viii.,  13).  "The 
Lord  will  cut  off  the  man  that  doeth  this,  the  master  and 
the  scholar,  out  of  the  tabernacles  of  Jacob,  and  him  that 
offereth  an  offering  unto  the  Lord  of  Hosts  "  (Malachi 

«.,  12). 

Lastly,  we  cite  this  remarkable  passage  from  Hosea 
vi.,  6)  :  "  For  I  desired  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice ;  and  the 
knowledge  of  God  more  than  burnt  offerings."  Twice 
did  Jesus  himself  make  distinct  reference  to  this  injunc- 
tion, and  emphasise  its  plain  language  by  application  to 
actual  circumstances.  When  the  Pharisees  reproached 
him  for  eating  with  publicans  and  sinners,  he  said,  "  Go 
ye  and  learn  what  that  meaneth,  I  will  have  mercy  and 
not  sacrifice."  When  they  reproached  his  disciples  for 
plucking  ears  of  corn  on  the  Sabbath  day,  he  told  them, 
"  If  ye  had  known  what  this  meaneth,  I  will  have  mercy 
and  not  sacrifice,  ye  would  not  have  condemned  the 
guiltless." 

And  Jesus'  adoption  of  Hosea's  very  language  leads  us 
on  from  the  Old  Testament  to  the  New.  Nor  herein  is 
there  need  of  further  proof  than  this  adoption  affords 
that  Jesus  himself  attached  no  importance  to  sacrifices. 
As  to  ceremonies  this  is  the  estimate  that  he  set  upon 


The  New  Testament  on  Sacrifice      227 

them  :  "  Woe  unto  you,  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypo- 
crites !  for  ye  pay  tithe  of  mint  and  anise  and  cummin, 
and  have  omitted  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law,  judg- 
ment, mercy,  and  faith."  Nevertheless,  one  scribe  may 
be  excepted,  he  of  whom  St.  Matthew  relates  that  he 
approved  Jesus'  outspoken  doctrine,  to  the  effect  that 
true  religion  consisted  in  loving  God  with  all  the  soul, 
and  loving  man  as  one's  self.  This,  saith  the  scribe,  is 
more  than  whole  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices.  And 
when  Jesus  saw  that  he  answered  discreetly,  he  said 
unto  him,  "  Thou  art  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God  " 
(Mark  xii.,  34).  Surely  one  sentence  of  denunciation  from 
him  who  is  considered  the  head  and  front  of  Christianity 
ought  to  suffice  for  uprooting  a  system  based  essentially 
upon  the  very  principle  denounced  by  him.  Jesus  throws 
contempt  upon  sacrifice.  The  Christian  churches  exalt 
and  magnify  it  as  the  sine  qua  non  in  man's  salvation. 
Pay  no  heed  to  sacrifices,  says  Jesus.  His  churches  say, 
practically,  let  us  make  Christ  himself  part  and  parcel 
of  the  system  that  he  repudiates ! 

Not  having  been  influenced  by  personal  contact  with 
Jesus,  St.  Paul — apart  from  his  frequent  reference  to  the 
comparative  merits  of  faith  and  good  works — appears 
never  to  have  freed  his  mind  from  a  certain  ideal  connec- 
tion between  sacrifice  and  salvation.  It  is  true  he  warns 
the  Corinthians  that  "  circumcision  is  nothing,  and  uncir- 
cumcision  is  nothing,  but  the  keeping  of  the  command- 
ments of  God  "  ;  and  that  he  tells  the  Hebrews  that  "  it 
is  not  possible  that  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats  should 
take  away  sins."  But  he  tells  these  latter  also  that 
"  without  blood  is  no  remission  " ;  nay,  he  goes  further 
still,  and  would  have  the  Hebrews  believe  that  the  sacri- 
fice of  Christ  was  needed  on  Christ's  own  behalf !  So 
astounding  is  this  dogma  that  it  seems  to  have  staggered 
the  Church  itself,  if  one  may  judge  by  the  eloquent 
silence  of  the  preachers  in  regard  to  it.  The  precise 


228         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

expression  runs  thus  (Hebrews  ix.,  12):  "  Neither  by  the 
blood  of  goats  and  calves,  but  by  his  own  blood,  he 
entered  in  once  into  the  holy  place."  Furthermore,  the 
very  phraseology  used  by  Paul,  on  two  occasions,  shows 
how  this  sacrificial  notion  was  rooted  in  him.  He  exhorts 
the  Romans  "to  present  their  bodies  a  living  sacrifice, 
holy,  and  acceptable  unto  God  "  ;  and  the  Jews  to  "  offer 
the  sacrifice  of  praise  to  God  continually." 

It  has  been  established  that  Jesus  nowhere  either  taught, 
or  gave  countenance  in  any  way  to  the  worship  of  sacri- 
fices, or  to  any  other  kind  of  worship,  except  that  enjoined 
by  natural  religion.  The  same  cannot  be  said,  however, 
with  regard  to  his  Apostles  after  his  death.  It  was  then 
that  they  began  to  foist  their  own  habitual  traditions 
upon  his  unincumbered  doctrine  and  thus  to  make  worship 
widely  different  from  that  which  he  had  advocated.  Nor 
had  they  any  consistency  about  them.  They  blew  hot 
and  cold  almost  in  the  same  breath.  Sometimes  they 
preached  one  thing  and  sometimes  another.  Take  for 
example,  that  most  inconsistent  man  of  all,  Peter,  termed 
by  one  branch  of  Christians  the  infallible  founder  of  their 
Church,  and  in  whose  power  they  put  the  keys  to  unlock 
and  lock  both  heaven  and  hell.  What  absurdities  is  he 
not  responsible  for?  Examine  the  first  sermon  which  he 
preached,  as  recorded  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  book 
of  Acts. 

This  was  an  important  occasion.  It  was  an  occasion 
when,  we  are  told,  men  from  almost  every  country  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  were  gathered  together  at  Jerusalem  ; 
and  for  the  first  and  perhaps  the  last  time  heard  an  ex- 
position of  the  doctrine  of  salvation  from  the  mouth  of 
one  who  might  be  looked  upon  as  qualified  to  teach  it. 

But  what  does  Peter  say  in  this  discourse  about  either 
the  old  sacrifices  of  the  Levitical  priesthood  or  the  sacri- 
fice of  Jesus  upon  the  cross?  Not  one  word.  He  speaks 
of  Jesus  as  a  man — a  man,  mark  you — a  man  approved  of 


The  New  Testament  on  Sacrifice      229 

God ;  as  having,  by  the  determinate  counsel  of  God, 
been  taken  and  crucified  and  slain ;  as  having  been  raised 
from  the  dead ;  as  having  ascended  to  heaven ;  and  as 
having  been  made  both  Lord  and  Christ.  But  he  does 
not  utter  a  single  syllable  about  Jesus  having  been  made 
a  sacrifice ;  still  less  does  he  insist,  as  the  Church  does, 
that  unless  we  believe  in  him  as  such,  we  cannot  be  saved. 
No.  Is  it  to  be  inferred,  then,  that  those  persons  present 
from  every  nation  under  heaven  were  to  comprehend  this 
new  and  complicated  dogma  by  intuition,  and  were  then 
to  go  and  preach  or  tell  it  to  their  friends?  Or  are  we 
not  rather  in  a  more  sensible  and  natural  manner  to  say 
that  Peter  neither  intended,  nor  did  they  understand  any- 
thing of  the  kind  ?  The  latter  deduction  is  assuredly  the 
first  one,  and  is  corroborated  by  Peter's  continued  silence 
on  this  point — when  he,  together  with  the  other  Apostles, 
was  asked  by  those  who  were  so  much  concerned  :  "  Men 
and  brethren,  what  shall  we  do  ?  "  His  reply  was  :  "  Re- 
pent and  be  baptised,  every  one  of  you,  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  for  the  remission  of  sins  " — the  baptism  sig- 
nifying a  pledge  to  adhere  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus  as  the 
way  to  righteousness.  Again,  not  one  word  was  said 
about  Jesus  being  crucified  as  a  sacrifice  for  sin.  The 
omission  is  the  more  striking  from  the  fact  that  Peter  was 
fresh  from  communication  with  him.  That  he  subse- 
quently fell  back  into  his  old  ways  is  on  record.  His 
Master  was  not  with  him  to  keep  him  on  the  right  path. 
He  had  been  slippery  in  his  dealings  with  Jesus  himself, 
and  is  accused,  by  his  associate  Paul,  of  having  played 
fast  and  loose  in  the  matter  of  circumcision,  and  in  that 
of  eating  with  the  Gentiles.  Be  this  as  it  may,  in  course 
of  time  they  all  conspired  to  make  Jesus  a  substitute  for 
those  sacrifices  with  which  they  were  so  fully  imbued 
that  they  could  not  cease  to  cling  to  them ;  although  they 
found  that  those  of  the  Jewish  order  were  too  gross  and 
too  much  opposed  to  his  own  teachings  to  be  intermingled 


230         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

with  his  more  refined  teaching.  When  we  say  all,  we 
should  probably  except  St.  James.  It  is  to  be  noted  that, 
in  the  five  chapters  of  his  general  Epistle,  he  does  not 
once  allude  to  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus,  and  very  sparingly 
to  Jesus  himself,  save  when  he  declares  that  "  the  coming 
of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh."  In  one  memorable  verse, 
also,  he  gives  his  views  of  "  pure  religion  and  undefiled 
before  God  and  the  Father,"  which  consists  in  comforting 
the  afflicted,  and  leading  a  pure  life — not  in  believing  that 
man  is  saved  only  by  the  death  of  Christ.  In  another 
verse  he  says  concisely :  "  Thou  believest  that  there  is 
one  God  ;  thou  doest  well," — not  two  Gods,  or  three. 

The  Church  argues  an  analogy  between  the  sacrifice  of 
Christ  on  the  cross,  under  what  it  calls  the  new  dispensa- 
tion, and  animal  sacrifice,  as  practised  under  the  old. 
Now  it  is  shown  elsewhere,  from  the  Old  Testament,  that 
the  whole  system  of  sacrifice  was  rather  tolerated  than 
approved  by  God.  At  the  same  time,  there  is  not  the 
slightest  evidence  that  Jesus  and  his  disciples  ever  parti- 
cipated in  the  sacrificial  services  of  the  Jewish  synagogue, 
though  they  frequented  it,  to  read,  or  to  teach,  or  to  pray 
therein.  This  we  say  is  remarkable,  and  adds  another 
proof  that  Jesus  and  his  Apostles,  at  all  events  during 
his  lifetime,  never  countenanced,  by  any  means  whatever, 
sacrifices  of  any  kind.  Indeed,  we  are  told  that  he  took 
a  scourge  of  small  cords  and  drove  out  the  buyers  and 
sellers  of  the  things  that  were  used  in  the  Temple,  and  in 
this  way  showed  his  displeasure  at  their  being  brought 
there  at  all,  for  any  such  purpose. 

We  submit  from  the  evidence  here  presented,  whether 
any  sober-minded  man  can  conscientiously,  and  without 
misgivings,  stand  by  a  system  that  God  so  unsparingly 
denounced,  and  that  Jesus  himself  never  approved. 

With  a  view  of  discussing  this  question  in  its  every 
phase,  we  proceed  further  to  confirm  what  has  hitherto 
been  said,  in  a  more  general  way.  Epiphanius  says  of 


Christ  Denounces  Sacrifice  231 

the  Ebionites — Heares,  xxx.,  1 6 — that  in  their  pretended 
Gospel  of  Matthew  there  occurs  this  expression  of  Christ : 
"  I  am  come  to  do  away  with  sacrifices,  and  if  you  do  not 
cease  to  sacrifice,  the  anger  of  God  will  not  cease  from 
you." 

This  horror  of  bloody  sacrifices  the  Ebionites  had  in 
common  with  the  Essenes.  Jesus  had  a  conviction  that 
reconciliation  with  God  was  only  attainable  by  purely 
inward  means.  And  hence  his  displeasure  at  the  gross 
materialism  of  the  sacrificial  service. 

Thus  did  Jesus,  not  only  by  words,  "  have  mercy  and 
not  sacrifice "  (Matthew  xii.,  7),  but  by  his  example, 
condemn  the  whole  system.  And  yet  how  remarkable  it 
is  that  this  very  system  was  at  length  engrafted  upon  the 
pure  natural  religion  which  he  advocated ! 

Renan  says,  that  one  idea,  at  least,  which  Jesus  brought 
from  Jerusalem,  and  which  henceforth  appears  rooted  in 
his  mind,  was  that  there  was  no  union  possible  between 
him  and  the  ancient  Jewish  religion.  The  abolition  of 
the  sacrifices  which  had  caused  him  so  much  disgust,  the 
suppression  of  an  impious  and  haughty  priesthood,  and, 
in  a  general  sense,  the  abrogation  of  the  law,  appeared  to 
him  absolutely  necessary.  From  this  time  he  appears  no 
more  as  a  Jewish  reformer,  but  as  a  destroyer  of  Judaism. 
Certain  advocates  of  Messianic  ideas  had  already  admitted 
that  the  Messiah  would  bring  a  new  law,  which  should  be 
common  to  all  the  earth.  The  Essenes,  who  were  scarcely 
Jews,  also  appear  to  have  been  indifferent  to  the  Temple 
and  to  the  Mosaic  observances.  But  these  were  only 
isolated  or  unavowed  instances  of  boldness.  Jesus  was 
the  first  who  dared  to  say  that  from  the  time  of  John, 
the  Law  was  abolished  :  "  The  law  and  the  prophets  were 
until  John:  since  that  time  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
preached,  and  every  man  presseth  into  it"  (Luke  xvi., 
1 6) ;  that  is  to  say,  independent  of  any  sacrifice.  Now, 
the  Churches  claim  that  the  law  of  God  required  for  the 


232         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

remission  of  sins,  up  to  the  time  of  the  shedding  of  the 
blood  of  Christ,  the  sacrifices  enjoined  by  the  ceremonial 
law ;  and  that  this  shedding  of  his  blood  was  accepted  by 
God  as  a  crowning  and  final  sacrifice  for  the  remission  of 
the  sins  of  all  who  believe  in  its  efficiency.  This  is  not 
in  accordance  with  Jesus'  declaration  that  the  law  pre- 
vailed not  after  John,  whose  death  took  place  before  that 
of  Jesus.  Consequently,  before  the  shedding  of  Jesus' 
blood  there  was  no  sacrificial  law  in  existence,  and  there- 
fore it  could  not  have  been  substituted  for,  or  abrogated 
by,  the  shedding  of  Jesus'  blood  as  they  claim. 

When  Jesus  was  driven  to  extremities,  he  lifted  the 
veil  entirely,  and  declared  that  the  Law  had  no  longer 
any  force.  On  this  subject  he  used  striking  comparisons. 
"  No  man  putteth  a  piece  of  new  cloth  into  an  old  gar- 
ment, neither  do  men  put  new  wine  into  old  bottles" 
(Matthew  ix.,  16,  17;  Luke  v.,  36.)  This  was  really  his 
chief  characteristic  as  a  teacher.  Jesus  was  no  longer  a 
Jew.  He  was  in  the  highest  degree  revolutionary ;  he 
called  all  men  to  a  worship  founded  solely  on  the  fact  of 
their  being  children  of  God.  He  advocated  the  religion 
of  humanity,  established,  not  upon  blood,  but  upon  the 
heart.  He  proclaimed  the  rights  of  man,  not  the  rights 
of  the  Jew ;  the  religion  of  man,  not  the  religion  of  the 
Jew;  the  deliverance  of  man,  not  the  deliverance  of  the 
Jew. 

Following  out  these  principles,  Jesus  despised  all 
religion  which  was  not  of  the  heart  and  conscience.  The 
vain  practices  of  the  devotees,  the  exterior  strictness 
which  trusted  to  formality  for  salvation,  had  in  him  a 
mortal  enemy.  The  love  of  God,  charity,  and  mutual 
forgiveness  were  his  whole  law.  Nothing  could  be  less 
priestly.  The  priest,  by  his  office,  ever  advocates  public 
sacrifice,  of  which  he  is  the  appointed  minister.  We 
should  seek  in  vain  in  the  Gospel  for  one  religious  rite 
recommended  by  Jesus.  Those  who  imagined  they  could 


Obscurity  of  the  Bible  233 

win  the  kingdom  of  heaven  by  saying  to  him,  "  Rabbi, 
Rabbi,"  he  rebuked  ;  and  proclaimed  that  his  religion 
consisted  in  doing  good. 

Among  the  various  books,  or  so-called  divine  records, 
which  are  claimed  to  be  supernaturally  inspired,  there  are 
none  so  obscure  as  the  Bible.  The  teachings  or  sayings 
of  Jesus  which  are  recorded  in  the  Bible  are  mostly  in 
parables  or  riddles,  whose  meaning  is  so  vague  and 
uncertain  that  no  two  persons  would  be  likely  to  put  the 
same  construction  upon  anyone  of  them.  Jesus  adopted 
and  continued  this  course  of  teaching  to  the  perplexity 
and  astonishment  of  his  disciples,  notwithstanding  he 
was  constantly  importuned  for  his  reasons  for  so  doing. 
In  which  cases,  when  he  answered  at  all,  he  said  he  did 
so  that  the  prophecies  might  be  fulfilled,  or  to  prevent 
the  wise  and  prudent  and  the  multitudes  generally  from 
receiving  and  understanding  the  truth  —  his  teachings 
being  intended  only  for  his  disciples  and  babes.  This  is 
inconsistent  with  the  idea  of  Jesus  being  either  God 
or  the  Saviour  of  men.  We  cannot  conceive  of  God's 
shaping  His  course,  professedly  and  especially,  to  suit  the 
vague  prophecies  of  men,  that  He  might  the  better  gain 
credence  to  His  being  God.  Besides,  such  a  course  is 
adverse,  by  its  obscurity,  to  the  Church's  version  of  the 
mission  of  Jesus,  which  teaches  that  he  came  to  give 
light,  and  thereby  everlasting  life  to  all  men.  He  who 
came  to  be  the  Saviour  of  all  men,  could  not,  surely, 
studiously  hide  the  means  of  salvation  from  any.  The 
preceding  remarks  have  been  suggested  by  the  following 
Bible  quotations,  which  seem  to  us  to  be  entirely  at 
variance  with  the  idea  that  Jesus  came  to  be  the  Saviour 
of  all  men, 

"  And  the  disciples  came,  and  said  unto  him,  Why 
speakest  thou  unto  them  in  parables.  He  answered 
and  said  unto  them,  Because  it  is  given  unto  you  to  know 
the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  to  them  it 


234         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

is  not  given.  For  whosoever  hath,  to  him  shall  be 
given,  and  he  shall  have  more  abundance  :  but  whosoever 
hath  not,  from  him  shall  be  taken  away  even  that  he 
hath.  Therefore  speak  I  to  them  in  parables :  because 
they  seeing,  see  not ;  and  hearing,  they  hear  not ;  neither 
do  they  understand.  And  in  them  is  fulfilled  the 
prophecy  of  Esaias,  which  saith,  By  hearing  ye  shall  hear, 
and  shall  not  understand ;  and  seeing  ye  shall  see,  and 
shall  not  perceive.  .  .  .  All  these  things  spake  Jesus  unto 
the  multitude  in  parables ;  and  without  a  parable  spake 
he  not  unto  them :  That  it  might  be  fulfilled  which 
was  spoken  by  the  prophet,  saying,  I  will  utter  things 
which  have  been  kept  secret  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world"  (Matthew  xiii.,  10-14,  34,  35).  "I  thank 
Thee,  O  Father,  Lord  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  because 
thou  hast  hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent, 
and  hast  revealed  them  unto  babes"  (Matthew  xi.,  25). 
'*  And  when  he  was  alone,  they  that  were  about  him 
with  the  twelve  asked  of  him  the  parable.  And  he  said 
unto  them,  Unto  you  it  is  given  to  know  the  mystery 
of  the  kingdom  of  God :  but  unto  them  that  are  without, 
all  these  things  are  done  in  parables :  That  seeing 
they  may  see,  and  not  perceive ;  and  hearing  they 
may  hear  and  not  understand,  lest  at  any  time  they 
should  be  converted,  and  their  sins  should  be  forgiven 
them"  (Mark  iv.,  10-12).  Such  is  the  Bible  version  of 
the  sayings  of  Jesus.  Their  import  is  totally  inconsistent 
with  his  pretended  Divine  mission.  It  is  not  in  harmony 
with  Peter's  remark  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons. 
Neither  does  it  accord  with  the  idea  that  God's  creatures 
are  all  alike  the  objects  of  His  care  and  goodness.  If 
Jesus  came,  as  a  messenger  from  God,  out  of  love  and 
kindness  to  mankind,  to  enable  all  to  obtain  eternal  life 
through  his  teaching,  then  it  would  seem,  according  to  the 
best  human  understanding,  that  all  his  teachings  should 
be  such  as  all  men  could  unmistakably  comprehend  and 


Sectarian  Recrimination  the  Result    235 

avail  themselves  of.  God's  teaching  is  heard  and  heeded 
throughout  the  universe.  To  this  premeditated  obscurity 
in  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  and  of  the  Bible  record  generally, 
is  due  in  a  great  measure  the  number  and  variety  of  sects, 
and  the  difficulty  in  coming  at  anything  definite  on  the 
subject  of  religion  or  even  theology. 

It  is  well  to  notice  some  of  the  results  of  the  many 
constructions  that  have  been  put  upon  the  Bible.  In 
illustrating  its  various  readings  and  their  results,  we 
quote  from  sundry  authorities  mentioned  here  below. 
The  innumerable  sects  and  parties  into  which  Christianity 
is  divided — each  laying  claim  to  exclusive  sanction  and 
authority  from  the  Bible,  each  declaring  its  own  views 
right,  and  all  who  differ  from  it  wrong — are  each  supported 
by  Scripture  texts  of  the  most  plausible  aspect.  "  The 
Trinitarian  denounces  the  Unitarian,  and  the  Unitarian 
the  Trinitarian;  and  both  unite  in  condemning  the  Roman 
Catholic  in  some  of  his  peculiar  doctrines.  The  Arminian 
denounces  the  Calvinist's  views,  as  a  system  consisting 
of  human  creatures  without  liberty, — doctrine  without 
sense, — faith  without  reason, — and  God  without  mercy." 
— Archd.  J or  tin.  The  Calvinist  on  the  other  hand 
represents  Arminianism  as  "  delusive,  dangerous,  and 
ruinous  to  immortal  souls." — Close  s  Sermons.  And  the 
Unitarians  declare  them  both  to  be  "  mischievous  com- 
pounds of  impiety  and  idolatry."  —  Disc,  on  Priestly. 
Archbishop  Magee,  on  the  other  hand,  denounces  the 
Unitarian  system  as  "  embracing  the  most  daring  impieties 
that  ever  disgraced  the  name  of  Christianity  ;  and  declares 
that  if  Unitarianism  be  well  founded,  Christianity  must 
be  an  imposition."  All  sects  join  in  denouncing  the 
Methodists  "  as  misled  fanatics,  alienated  from  all  know- 
ledge of  the  true  God." — Divine  Truth.  The  Church  of 
England  denounces  the  whole  body  of  dissenters  "  as 
accursed,  devoted  to  the  devil,  and  separated  from 
Christ  " — Canon,  v.,  vii. ;  and  the  Bishop  of  London — 


236         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Letters  on  Dissent — declares  them  "  to  be  actuated  by 
the  devil,  with  the  curse  of  God  resting  heavily  on  them 
all."  "  The  dissenters  are  not  slow  in  retaliating  on  the 
Church  of  England.  They  say  that  it  is  an  obstacle  to 
the  progress  of  truth  and  holiness  in  the  land,  that  it 
destroys  more  souls  than  it  saves,  and  that  its  end  is  most 
devoutly  to  be  wished  for  by  every  lover  of  God  and 
man."  —  Christian  Observer.  "  The  Roman  Catholics 
declare  their  Church  to  be  '  the  only  true  one,'  while  all 
others  join  in  denouncing  them  as  the  '  scarlet  whore  of 
Babylon/  and  a  combination  of  idolatry,  blasphemy,  and 
devilism.'  " — Cuns.  Apostasy.  "  The  Romanist  retorts 
again,  by  consigning  every  sect  and  description  of 
religionists  to  eternal  damnation  as  heretics  and  schis- 
matics, and  their  clergy  as  desecrating  thieves  and  minis- 
ters of  the  devil."— Rheimss  Test. 

It  would  be  an  endless  task  to  enumerate  the  names 
and  tenets  of  the  various  sects  which  constitute  that 
"chaos  of  confusion"  denominated  "the  Christian  Church," 
all  derived  from  this  one  book,  the  Bible,  which  is  declared 
to  be  an  emanation  from  the  Almighty,  and  a  revelation 
of  His  will  to  all  men. 

From  the  rapid  advancement  of  civilisation,  the  increase 
of  the  wealth  and  the  luxuries  of  life,  the  clergy  of  mod- 
ern times  have  found  it  necessary  to  make  further  changes 
and  modifications  in  the  religion  of  Jesus,  so  as  to  accom- 
modate it  to  their  own  views  and  the  peculiarities  of  the 
times.  His  name  is  still  assumed  as  the  foundation  of 
their  religion ;  but  little  attention  is  paid  either  to  his 
precepts  or  example.  In  reality,  only  the  shadow  of  the 
religion  taught  by  Jesus  now  remains. 

In  view  of  all  this,  can  the  reader  hesitate  to  acknow- 
ledge that  a  religion  so  divided  against  itself  has  no 
claim,  either  to  be  the  true  religion,  or  of  Divine  origin  ? 
Can  any  one  imagine  for  a  moment  how,  amidst  such  an 
infinite  mass  of  obscure  texts,  contradictory  opinions,  and 


Jesus  and  the  Supernatural  237 

glaring  discrepancies,  all  seriously  derived  from  the  pages 
of  this  book,  it  is  a  correct  and  useful  system  of  religion  ? 

Truth  belongs  to  all  times  and  to  all  men.  That  the 
truth  is  not  evident  in  Scripture  is  proved  by  the 
innumerable  sects  into  which  Christianity  has  split ;  for 
when  truth  is  clear  and  evident  it  is  impossible  to  divide 
people  into  parties  or  factions.  What  would  be  the  true 
religion  if  there  were  no  sects  ?  That  in  which  all  minds 
must  necessarily  agree.  Sectarianism  and  error  are  but 
synonyms ;  for  "  the  word  of  God  "  can  convey  but  one 
meaning.  We  would  only  ask  how  many  meanings  have 
the  Scriptures,  the  assumed  word  of  God,  conveyed  — 
count  the  different  sects  ! 

People  in  all  ages,  from  the  inborn  delight  which  man 
derives  from  the  wonderful  and  mysterious,  have,  at  all 
times  and  in  all  places,  been  readily  persuaded  to  lend  their 
belief  to  the  supernatural  and  the  invisible  ;  hence  one 
great  cause  of  the  enormous  superstructure  in  the  Christ- 
ian religion  of  prophecies  and  miracles,  of  dreams  and 
visions,  of  angels  and  devils,  and  other  supernatural  and 
invisible  agents,  which  have  been  worked  up  into  the  few 
simple  and  truthful  precepts  which  Jesus,  during  the 
early  part  of  his  public  career,  enforced  with  so  much  zeal 
and  eloquence. 

No  great  events  in  history  have  happened  without  hav- 
ing given  rise  to  a  cycle  of  fables.  At  a  certain  period  in 
his  career  Jesus  began  to  imagine  that  he  saw  in  himself 
traits  of  character  corresponding  to  the  Messiah.  Perhaps 
a  sagacious  observer  might  have  recognised  from  this 
point  the  germ  of  the  narratives  which  were  to  attribute  to 
him  a  supernatural  birth,  and  which  arose,  it  may  be,  from 
the  idea,  very  prevalent  in  antiquity,  that  the  incompar- 
able man  could  not  be  born  of  the  ordinary  relations  of 
the  two  sexes,  or  in  order  to  respond  to  an  imperfectly 
understood  chapter  of  Isaiah,  which  was  thought  to  fore- 
tell that  the  Messiah  should  be  born  of  a  virgin.  At 


238          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

times  they  connected  him,  from  his  birth,  with  celebrated 
men,  such  as  John  the  Baptist,  Herod  the  Great,  Chaldean 
Astrologers,  who,  it  was  said,  visited  Jerusalem  about  this 
time,  and  two  aged  persons,  Simeon  and  Anna,  who  had 
left  memories  of  great  sanctity.  It  was,  especially,  after 
the  death  of  Jesus  that  such  narratives  became  greatly 
developed.  That  he  never  dreamed  of  making  himself 
pass  for  an  incarnation  of  God,  is  a  matter  about  which 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  Such  an  idea  was  entirely  foreign 
to  the  Jewish  mind ;  and  there  is  no  trace  of  it  in  the 
Gospels.  Certain  passages  expressly  exclude  this  idea, 
and  we  only  find  it  indicated  in  portions  of  the  Gospel  of 
John,  which  cannot  be  accepted  as  expressing  the  thoughts 
of  Jesus.  Sometimes  he  even  seems  to  take  precautions 
to  put  down  such  a  doctrine.  The  accusation  that'  he 
made  himself  God,  or  the  equal  of  God,  is  presented,  even 
in  the  Gospel  of  John,  as  a  calumny  of  the  Jews.  In  this 
last  Gospel  he  declares  himself  to  be  less  than  his  Father 
(John  xiv.,  28).  Elsewhere  he  avows  that  the  Father  has 
not  revealed  everything  to  him.  He  is  Son  of  God,  but 
so  are  all  men.  He  calls  God  his  Father.  Every  one 
should  feel  that  God  is  more  than  a  Father.  "  All  who 
are  raised  again  will  be  sons  of  God  "  (Luke  xx.,  36).  The 
Divine  son-ship  was  attributed  in  the  Old  Testament 
to  beings  whom  it  was  by  no  means  pretended  were  equal 
with  God  (Genesis  vi.,  2;  Job  i.,  6,  ii.,  i,  xxviii.,  7; 
Psalm  ii.,  7,  Ixxxii.,  6;  2  Samuel  vii.,  14).  The  word 
"  son  "  has  the  widest  meaning  in  the  Semitic  language, 
and  in  that  of  the  New  Testament.  The  transcendent 
idealism  of  Jesus  never  permitted  him  to  have  a  very  clear 
notion  of  his  own  personality.  He  is  his  Father,  his 
Father  is  he.  He  lives  in  his  disciples  :  he  is  everywhere 
with  them  (Matthew  xviii.,  20 ;  xxviii.,  20).  His  disciples 
are  one,  as  he  and  his  Father  are  one  (John  x.,  30  ;  xvii.,  2 1). 
In  general  the  later  discourses  of  John,  especially  chapter 
xvii.,  express  one  side  of  the  psychological  state  of  Jesus, 


The  Divinity  of  Jesus  239 

though  we  cannot  regard  them  as  true  historical  docu- 
ments. 

No  idea  of  the  laws  of  nature  marked  the  limit  of  the 
impossible,  either  in  his  own  mind,  or  in  the  minds  of  his 
hearers.  The  witnesses  of  his  miracles  thanked  God  "  for 
having  given  such  power  unto  men  "  (Matthew  ix.,  8).  He 
pardoned  sins  (Matthew  ix.,  2).  He  was  superior  to  David, 
to  Abraham,  to  Solomon,  and  to  the  prophets  (Matthew 
xii.,  41,  42;  xxii.,  43).  We  do  not  know  in  what  form 
or  to  what  extent  these  affirmations  of  himself  were 
made.  Jesus  ought  not  to  be  judged  by  the  law  of  our 
petty  conventionalities.  The  admiration  of  his  disciples 
overwhelmed  him,  and  carried  him  away.  It  is  evident 
that  the  title  of  Rabbi,  with  which  he  was  at  first  con- 
tented, no  longer  sufficed  him.  There  was  no  supernatural 
for  him,  because  there  was  no  nature.  Intoxicated  with 
infinite  love,  he  forgot  the  heavy  chain  which  holds  the 
spirit  captive ;  he  cleared  at  one  bound  the  abyss  which 
the  weakness  of  the  human  faculties  has  created  between 
God  and  man.  The  belief  that  certain  men  are  incarna- 
tions of  Divine  faculties  or  "  powers  "  was  wide-spread. 
For  nearly  two  centuries,  the  speculative  minds  of  Judaism 
had  yielded  to  the  tendency  to  personify  the  Divine  attri- 
butes, and  certain  expressions  which  were  connected  with 
the  Divinity.  Thus,  "  the  breath  of  God,"  which  is  often 
referred  to  in  the  Old  Testament,  is  considered  as  a 
separate  being,  the  "  Holy  Spirit."  In  the  same  manner 
the  "  Wisdom  of  God  "  and  the  "  Word  of  God  "  became 
distinct  personages.  This  was  the  germ  of  the  process 
which  has  engendered  the  hypothesis  of  Christianity,  and 
all  that  dry  mythology,  consisting  of  personified  abstrac- 
tions, to  which  resort  is  had  when  desiring  to  pluralise 
the  Deity. 

Jesus  appears  to  have  remained  a  stranger  to  these  re- 
finements of  theology,  which  were  soon  to  fill  the  world 
with  barren  disputes.  It  was  John  the  Evangelist,  or  his 


240         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

school,  who  afterwards  endeavoured  to  prove  that  Jesus 
was  the  Word,  and  who  created  in  this  sense  quite  a  new 
theology,  very  different  from  that  of  the  "  kingdom  of 
God"  (see  John,  Gospel,  i.,  1-14;  I  Epistle,  v.,  7).  The 
essential  character  of  the  Word  was  that  of  Creator  and 
of  Providence.  Now,  Jesus  never  pretended  to  have 
created  the  world,  or  to  govern  it.  His  office  was  to 
judge  it,  to  renovate  it.  The  position  of  president  at  the 
final  judgment  of  humanity  was  the  essential  attribute 
which  Jesus  attached  to  himself  and  the  character  which 
all  the  first  Christians  attributed  to  him  (Acts  x.,  42). 
At  all  events,  the  strictness  of  a  studied  theology  by  no 
means  existed  in  such  a  state  of  society.  All  the  ideas 
we  have  just  stated  formed  in  the  mind  of  the  disciples  a 
theological  system  so  little  settled  that  the  Son  of  God, 
this  species  of  Divine  duplicate,  is  made  to  act  purely  as 
man.  He  is  tempted — he  is  ignorant  of  many  things.  He 
corrects  himself  (Comp.  Matthew  x.,  5,  with  xxviii.,  19). 
He  is  cast  down,  discouraged.  He  asks  his  Father  to 
spare  him  trials  —  he  is  submissive  to  God  as  a  son 
(Matthew  xxvi.,  39).  "  He  who  is  to  judge  the  world  does 
not  know  the  day  of  judgment"  (Mark  xiii.,  32).  He 
takes  precautions  for  his  safety  (Matthew  xii.,  14-16 ;  xiv., 
13).  Soon  after  his  birth  he  is  concealed  to  avoid  power- 
ful men  who  wish  to  kill  him  (Matthew  ii.,  20).  In 
exorcisms,  the  devil  cheats  him,  and  does  not  come  out 
at  the  first  command  (Matthew  xvii.,  20;  Mark  ix.,  25). 
In  his  miracles  we  are  sensible  of  painful  effort  through 
exhaustion,  as  if  something  went  out  of  him  (Luke  viii., 
45>  4^  5  John  xi.,  33,  38).  The  need  Jesus  had  of  obtain- 
ing credence  and  the  enthusiasm  of  his  disciples  heaped 
up  contradictory  notions.  To  the  Messianic  believers  of 
the  millenarian  school,  and  to  the  enthusiastic  readers  of 
the  books  of  Daniel  and  Enoch,  he  was  the  Son  of  man ; 
to  the  Jews  holding  the  ordinary  faith,  and  to  the  readers 
of  Isaiah  and  Micah,  he  was  the  Son  of  David  ;  to  the  dis- 


The  Means  of  Proof  241 

ciples  he  was  the  Son  of  God,  or  simply  the  Son.  Others 
without  being  blamed  by  the  disciples  took  him  for  John 
the  Baptist  risen  from  the  dead  ;  for  Elias  ;  for  Jeremiah, 
conformable  to  the  popular  belief  that  the  ancient  pro- 
phets were  about  to  re-appear,  in  order  to  prepare  the 
time  of  the  Messiah  (Matthew  xiv.,  2 ;  xvi.,  14 ;  xvii.,  3). 
Honesty  and  imposture  are  words  which,  in  our  rigid  con- 
sciences, are  opposed  as  two  irreconcilable  terms.  In  the 
East  they  are  connected  by  numberless  subtle  links  and 
windings.  The  authors  of  the  Apocryphal  books  of 
"  Daniel "  and  of  "  Enoch,"  for  instance,  men  highly 
exalted,  in  order  to  aid  their  cause,  committed,  without  a 
shadow  of  scruple,  an  act  which  we  should  term  a  fraud. 
Two  means  of  proof,  miracles  and  the  accomplishment  of 
prophecies,  could  alone,  in  the  opinion  of  the  contempor- 
aries of  Jesus,  establish  a  supernatural  mission.  Jesus,  and 
especially  his  disciples,  employed  these  two  processes  of 
demonstration,  where  Jesus  had  conceived  that  the  pro- 
phets had  written  only  in  reference  to  him.  He  recognised 
himself  in  their  sacred  oracles  ;  he  regarded  himself  as  the 
mirror  in  which  all  the  prophetic  spirit  of  Israel  had  read 
the  future.  In  many  cases,  these  comparisons  were  quite 
superficial,  and  are  scarcely  appreciable  by  us.  They 
were  most  frequently  fortuitous  or  insignificant  circum- 
stances in  the  life  of  Jesus,  which  recalled  to  the  disciples 
certain  passages  of  the  Psalms  and  Prophets,  in  which,  in 
consequence  of  their  constant  preoccupation,  they  saw 
images  in  him  (Matthew  i.,  23  ;  iv.,  6,  14;  xxvi.,  31,  54,  56; 
xxvii.,  9,  35).  The  exegesis  of  the  time  consisted  thus 
almost  entirely  in  a  play  upon  words,  and  in  quotations 
made  in  an  artificial  and  arbitrary  manner. 

As  to  miracles,  they  were  regarded  at  this  period  as  the 
indispensable  mark  of  the  Divine,  and  as  the  sign  of  the 
prophetic  vocation.  The  legends  of  Elijah  and  Elisha 
were  full  of  them.  It  was  commonly  believed  that  the 
Messiah  would  perform  many  (John  vii.,  34 ;  Esdras  xiii., 


16 


242         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

50).  In  Samaria,  a  few  leagues  from  where  Jesus  was,  a 
magician  named  Simon  acquired  an  almost  Divine  char- 
acter by  his  illusions  (Acts  viii.,  9).  Jesus  was  therefore 
obliged  to  choose  between  these  two  alternatives  —  either 
to  renounce  his  mission,  or  to  become  a  miracle-worker. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  all  antiquity,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  great  scientific  schools,  and  their  Roman 
disciples,  accepted  miracles ;  and  that  Jesus  not  only 
believed  therein,  but  had  not  the  least  idea  of  an  order 
of  nature  regulated  by  fixed  laws.  His  knowledge  on 
this  point  was  in  no  way  superior  to  that  of  his  con- 
temporaries. 

The  lapse  of  time  has  changed  that  which  constituted 
the  power  upon  which  the  Christian  theology  is  founded, 
into  something  offensive  to  our  ideas.  Criticism  experi- 
ences no  embarrassment  in  the  presence  of  this  kind  of 
historical  phenomena. 

With  reference  to  our  argument  that  there  is  One  God, 
and  one  only,  we  next  invite  the  reader's  attention  to 
forty-three  selected  texts,  affirming  that  fact. 

1.  "Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me"  (Ex- 
odus xx.,  3). 

2.  "  Unto  thee  it  was  shewed,  that  thou  mightest  know 
that  the  Lord  is  God;   there  is  none  else  beside  him" 
(Deuteronomy  iv.,  35). 

3.  "  Know  therefore  this  day,  and  consider  it  in  thine 
heart,  that  the  Lord  he  is  God  in  heaven  above,  and  upon 
the  earth  beneath:  there  is  none  else"  (Deuteronomy iv., 

39)- 

4.  "  Hear,  O  Israel :    the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord  " 

(Deuteronomy  vi.,  4). 

5.  "  See  now  that  I,  even  I,  am  he,  and  there  is  no  god 
with  me :  I  kill,  and  I  make  alive ;  I  wound,  and  I  heal ; 
neither  is  there  any  that  can  deliver  out  of  my  hand  " 
{Deuteronomy  xxxii.,  39). 

6.  "  There  is  none  holy  as  the  Lord  ;  for  there  is  none 


Texts  in  Favour  of  One  God  Only     243 

beside  thee:    neither  is  there  any  rock  like  our  God"  (i 
Samuel  ii.,  2). 

7.  "  Wherefore  thou  art  great,  O  Lord  God  :  for  there 
is  none  like  thee,  neither  is  there  any  God  beside  thee, 
according  to  all  that  we   have  heard  with  our  ears  "  (2 
Samuel  vii.,  22). 

8.  "  For  who  is  God,  save  the  Lord  ?  and  who  is  a  rock, 
save  our  God  "  ?  (2  Samuel  xxii.,  32). 

9.  "  And  he  said,  Lord  God  of  Israel,  there  is  no  god 
like  thee   in   heaven   above,  or  on   earth   beneath,  who 
keepest  covenant  and  mercy  with  thy  servants  that  walk 
before  thee  with  all  their  heart  "  (i  Kings  viii.,  23). 

10.  "  And  Hezekiah  prayed  before  the  Lord,  and  said, 
O  Lord  God  of  Israel,  which  dwellest  between  the  cheru- 
bims,  thou  art  the  God,  even  thou  alone,  of  all  the  king- 
doms of  the  earth  ;  thou  hast  made  heaven  and  earth  " 
(2  Kings  xix.,  15). 

11.  "  Now  therefore,  O  Lord  our  God,  I  beseech  thee, 
save  thou  us  out  of  his  hand,  that  all  the  kingdoms  of 
the  earth  may  know  that  thou  art  the  Lord  God,  even 
thou  only  "  (2  Kings  xix.,  19). 

12.  "  Thou,  even  thou,  art  Lord  alone :  thou  hast  made 
heaven,  the  heaven  of  heavens,  with  all  their  host,  the 
earth  and  all  things  that  are  therein,  the  seas  and  all  that 
is  therein  ;  and  thou  preserveth  them  all ;  and  the  host  of 
heaven  worshippeth  thee  "  (Nehemiah  ix.,  6). 

13.  "  That   men   may  know   that   thou,   whose   name 
alone  is  Jehovah,  art  the  Most  High  over  all  the  earth  " 
(Psalm  Ixxxiii.,  18). 

14.  "  For  thou  art  great,  and  doest  wondrous  things : 
thou  art  God  alone  "  (Psalm  Ixxxvi.,  10). 

15.  "Behold,  God  is  my  salvation;  I  will  trust,  and 
will  not  be  afraid  :  for  the  Lord  Jehovah  is  my  strength 
and  my  song ;  he  also  is  become  my  salvation  "  (Isaiah 
xii.,  2). 

16.  "O   Lord   of  hosts,  God  of   Israel,  that  dwellest 


244         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

between  the  cherubims,  thou  art  the  God,  even  thou 
alone,  of  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  thou  hast  made 
heaven  and  earth  "  (Isaiah  xxxvii.,  16). 

17.  "  Now,  therefore,  O  Lord  our  God,  save  us  from 
his  hand,   that   all    the    kingdoms    of    the    earth  may 
know  that  thou  art  the  Lord,  even  thou  only  "  (Isaiah 
xxxvii.,  20). 

1 8.  "I  am  the  Lord ;  that  is  my  name:  and  my  glory 
will  I  not  give  to  another,  neither  my  praise  to  graven 
images  "  (Isaiah  xlii.,  8). 

19.  "  For  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel,  thy  Saviour ;  I  gave  Egypt  for  thy  ransom,  Ethi- 
opia and  Seba  for  thee  "  (Isaiah  xliii.,  3). 

20.  "  I,  even  I,  am  the  Lord  ;  and  besides  me  there  is 
no  saviour  "  (Isaiah  xliii.,  n). 

21.  "I  am  the  Lord,  and  there  is  none  else,  there  is  no 
God  beside  me:    I  girded  thee,  though   thou    hast   not 
known  me  "  (Isaiah  xlv.,  5). 

22.  "  That  they  may  know  from  the  rising  of  the  sun, 
and  from  the  west,  that  there  is  none  beside  me :   I  am 
the  Lord,  and  there  is  none  else  "  (Isaiah  xlv,,  6). 

23.  "  Verily,  thou  art  a  God  that  hidest  thyself,  O  God 
of  Israel,  the  Saviour"  (Isaiah  xlv.,  15). 

24.  "  For  thus  saith  the  Lord  that  created  the  heavens, 
God  himself  that  formed  the  earth  and  made  it,  he  hath 
established  it,  he  created  it  not  in  vain,  he  formed  it  to 
be  inhabited  :  I  am  the  Lord,  and  there  is  none  else " 
(Isaiah  xlv.,  18). 

25.  "  Tell  ye,  and  bring  them  near  ;  yea,  let  them  take 
counsel  together :  who  hath  declared  this    from  ancient 
time  ?  who  hath  told  it  from  that  time  ?  have  not  I  the 
Lord  ?  and  there  is  no  God  else  beside  me ;  a  just  God  and 
a  Saviour:  there  is  none  beside  me  "  (Isaiah  xlv.,  21). 

26.  "  Look  unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of 
the  earth  ;  for  I  am  God  and  there  is  none  else  "  (Isaiah 
xlv.,  22). 


Texts  in  Favour  of  One  God  Only     245 

27.  "  Remember  the  former  things  of   old  :  for  I  am 
God,  and  there  is  none  else  ;  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none 
like  me  "  (Isaiah  xlvi.,  9). 

28.  "  Thou  shalt  also  suck  the  milk  of  the  Gentiles, 
and  shalt  suck  the  breast  of  kings  :  and  thou  shalt  know 
that  I  the  Lord  am  thy  Saviour  and  thy  Redeemer,  the 
Mighty  One  of  Jacob  "  (Isaiah  lx.,  16). 

29.  "  I  will  not  execute  the  fierceness  of  mine  anger, 
I  will  not  return  to  destroy  Ephraim  :  for  I  am  God  and 
not  man  ;  the  Holy  One  in  the  midst  of  thee ;  and  I  will 
not  enter  into  the  city  "  (Hosea  xi.,  9). 

30.  "Yet  I  am  the  Lord   thy  God  from  the  land  of 
Egypt,  and  thou  shalt  know  no  god  but  me :  for  there  is 
no  saviour  beside  me  "  (Hosea  xiii.,  4). 

31.  "  And  the  Lord  shall  be  king  over  all  the  earth ;  in 
that  day  shall  there  be  one  Lord,  and  his  name   one " 
(Zechariah  xiv.,  9). 

32.  "  And    he   said    unto  him,  Why    callest   thou  me 
good  ?  there  is  none  good  but  one,  that  is  God  :  but  if 
thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  the  commandments  "  (Mat- 
thew xix.,  17). 

33.  "  And    Jesus   said   unto    him,    Why   callest   thou 
me  good  ?  there  is  none   good    but  one,  that  is,  God  " 
(Mark  x.,  18). 

34.  "  And  Jesus  answered  him,  The  first  of  all  the  com- 
mandments is,  Hear,  O  Israel ;  the  Lord  our  God  is  one 
Lord  "  (Mark  xii.,  29). 

35.  "And  the  scribe  said  unto  him,  Well,  Master,  thou 
hast  said  the  truth :  for  there  is  one  God ;  and  there  is 
none  other  but  he  "  (Mark  xii.,  32). 

36.  "  And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Why  callest  thou  me 
good  ?  none  is  good,  save  one,  that  is,  God  "  (Luke  xviii., 
19. 

37.  "  And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know 
thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou 
hast  sent  "  (John  xvii.,  3). 


246         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

38.  "  As  concerning  therefore  the  eating  of  those  things 
that  are  offered  in  sacrifice  unto  idols  we  know  that  an 
idol  is  nothing  in  the  world,  and  that  there  is  none  other 
God  but  one  "  (i  Corinthians  viii.,  4). 

39.  "Now  a  mediator  is  not  a  mediator  of  one;  but 
God  is  one  "  (Galatians  iii.,  20). 

40.  "  One  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism  "  (Ephesians 
iv.,  5). 

41.  "Now  unto  the  King  eternal,  immortal,  invisible, 
the  only  wise  God,  be  honour  and  glory  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen  "  (i  Timothy  i.,  17). 

42.  "  For  there  is  one  God,  and  one  mediator  between 
God  and  men,  the  man  Christ  Jesus  "  (i  Timothy  ii.,  5). 

43.  "  Thou  believest  that  there  is  but  one  God  ;  thou 
doest  well:  the  devils  also  believe,  and  tremble  "  (James 
ii.,  19). 

Here  we  have  forty-three  selected  texts  affirming  that 
there  is  but  one  God.  Five  of  these  are  the  sayings  of 
Christ  himself.  Nine  declare  that  God  Jehovah  is  our 
Saviour  or  salvation,  and  one  is  the  endorsement  of  a 
scribe  to  the  affirmation  of  Christ  that  the  Lord  our  God 
is  one  Lord.  Now  this  is  remarkable.  If  Christ  is  God, 
why  is  he- not  so  accredited  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments ?  This  is  not  the  case  in  either  one  or  the  other. 
It  is  easy  to  make  an  assertion  we  admit,  and  if  that 
assertion  is  unsupported  by  good  and  reliable  evidence  it 
is  of  no  account.  But  if  a  man  makes  an  assertion  on  the 
authority  of  competent  testimony,  that  assertion  is  entitled 
to  our  respect  and  belief.  Now  it  is  asserted  by  a  large 
majority  of  the  Christian  Churches  that  Christ  is  God : 
but  whence  do  they  derive  their  evidence  to  support 
them  in  such  an  assertion  ?  We  know  of  none  that  car- 
ries any  weight  with  it,  and  there  is  certainly  none  in  the 
Book  which  they  rely  upon  as  infallibly  true.  We  assert 
that  Christ  was  not  God  ;  and  this  on  the  testimony  of 


Further  Proof  247 

God  Himself,  and  the  man  Jesus  whom  the  Churches 
deify.  Can  God  lie  ?  He  says  He  is  not  a  man  that  He 
can  lie:  nor  the  son  of  man  that  He  can  repent.  No  one 
can  fail  to  see  then,  from  the  numerous  foregoing  texts, 
that  we  have  abundant  Bible  authority  in  support  of  the 
unity  of  the  Godhead  ;  and  that  man's  final  deliverance 
from  infirmity  and  affliction  will  be  wrought  out  for  him 
by  the  One  God,  who  is  both  his  Creator,  Preserver,  and 
Redeemer. 

By  way  of  further  proof,  however,  we  will  devote  some 
space  to  viewing  the  subject  through  a  variety  of  phases. 
If  Jesus  were  God  why  did  he,  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
commend  his  soul  to  God  ?  This  we  are  told  that  he 
most  certainly  did.  "And  about  the  ninth  hour  Jesus 
cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying,  Eli,  Eli,  lama  sabachthani  ? 
that  is  to  say,  My  God,  My  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken 
me  ?  "  "  And  when  Jesus  had  cried  with  a  loud  voice  he 
said,  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit :  and 
having  said  this  he  gave  up  the  ghost." 

Jesus,  it  is  said,  was  to  be  a  propitation  for  the  sins  of 
mankind  on  the  assumption  that  he  was  God  and  man, 
and  without  sin.  But  is  this  assumption  consistent  with 
the  assertion  that  each  and  every  part  of  the  Bible  is 
true  ?  To  be  without  sin,  the  Bible  says,  is  to  be  good. 
Sin,  therefore,  presupposes  the  absence  of  goodness.  Was 
Jesus  good  in  this  way  ?  As  we  have  before  shown,  he 
says  himself  that  there  is  none  good  but  one,  that  is,  God. 
He  therefore  could  not  be  without  sin,  neither  could  he 
be  that  propitiation  for  sin  that  he  is  said  to  be,  being  not 
without  sin. 

Again,  it  is  said  that  after  his  resurrection  Mary  met 
him  and,  we  presume,  was  about  to  take  hold  of  him 
when  he  said  unto  her,  "  Touch  me  not ;  for  I  am  not  yet 
ascended  to  my  Father ;  but  go  to  my  brethren  and  say 
unto  them  I  ascend  unto  my  Father,  and  your  Father ;  and 
to  my  God  and  your  God."  Now  Jesus  here  represents 


248         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

himself  as  standing  in  the  same  relation  to  God  as 
did  the  woman  to  whom  he  was  addressing  himself.  He 
calls  God  his  Father,  in  the  same  sense  that  he  calls  Him 
her  Father.  If  he,  as  he  is  said  to  have  declared,  was 
one  with  the  Father  how  could  he  be  Father  to  himself  ? 
This  is  absurd.  It  makes  the  theory  of  the  Divinity  of 
Jesus  simply  ridiculous. 

Again,  "  Believest  thou  not  that  I  am  in  the  Father ; 
and  the  Father  in  me?  the  words  I  speak  unto  you  I 
speak  not  of  myself ;  but  the  Father  that  dwelleth  in  me, 
He  doeth  the  works."  The  Father  dwelleth  in  every  man 
in  the  same  sense. 

"  For  both  he  that  sanctifieth  and  they  who  are  sancti- 
fied are  all  of  one :  for  which  cause  he  is  not  ashamed  to 
call  them  all  brethren."  "  Then  answered  Jesus,  and 
said  unto  them,  Verily,  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  The  Son 
can  do  nothing  of  himself,  but  what  he  seeth  the  Father 
do  :  for  what  things  soever  he  doeth,  these  also  doeth  the 
Son  likewise.  For  the  Father  loveth  the  Son,  and  show- 
eth  him  all  things  that  himself  doeth ;  and  he  will  show 
him  greater  works  than  these,  that  ye  may  marvel." 

"And  he  saith  unto  them,  Ye  shall  drink  indeed  of  my 
cup,  and  be  baptised  with  the  baptism  that  I  am  baptised 
with :  but  to  sit  on  my  right  hand,  and  on  my  left,  is  not 
mine  to  give,  but  it  shall  be  given  to  them  for  whom  it 
is  prepared  of  my  Father."  This  is  precisely  the  reply 
that  any  man,  seeking  to  establish  a  kingdom,  might 
make  to  such  a  question. 

"  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of 
him  that  sent  me,  and  to  finish  his  work,"  which  was 
to  exhort  to  repentance,  and  love  to  God  and  man.  "  For 
I  have  not  spoken  of  myself ;  but  the  Father  which  sent 
me,  he  gave  me  a  commandment,  what  I  should  say,  and 
what  I  should  speak."  "  And  I  know  that  his  command- 
ment is  life  everlasting;  whatsoever  I  speak,  therefore, 
even  as  the  Father  said  unto  me,  so  I  speak." 


Jesus  and  the  Father  249 

So  say  the  Quakers  and  others  who  conceive  that  they 
have  a  call  to  preach. 

"  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  If  God  were  your  Father,  ye 
would  love  me :  for  I  proceeded  forth  and  came  from 
God  ;  neither  came  I  of  myself,  but  he  sent  me." 

"  If  ye  keep  my  commandments  ye  shall  abide  in  my 
love :  even  as  I  have  kept  my  Father's  commandments, 
and  abide  in  his  love." 

Any  preacher  of  the  Gospel  might  without  any  breach 
of  propriety  so  remark  to  his  flock. 

"  At  that  day  ye  shall  know  that  I  am  in  my  Father, 
and  ye  in  me,  and  I  in  you."  That  is,  the  preacher  and 
congregation  alike,  serving  God,  each  in  his  appropriate 
way,  may  have  the  same  mind  as  the  Father  within  each 
of  them. 

"  He  that  hath  my  commandments,  and  keepeth  them, 
he  it  is  that  loveth  me,  and  he  that  loveth  me  shall  be 
loved  of  my  Father,  and  I  will  love  him,  and  will  mani- 
fest myself  to  him." 

"That  they  all  may  be  one ;  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me, 
and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us ;  that  the 
world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me."  Now,  Jesus 
might,  with  the  greatest  propriety,  make  use  of  such  lan- 
guage as  this,  and  yet  be  nothing  more  than  a  teacher, 
in  whom  was  a  large  supply  of  God's  illuminating  mind 
and  goodness.  He  did,  no  doubt,  earnestly  and  elo- 
quently set  forth,  in  the  most  graceful  and  glowing  col- 
ours, much  that  was  pure  in  the  eyes  of  men,  and  make 
it  attractive  to  them ;  and,  having  the  faculty  to  do  this, 
he  found  a  ready  witness  and  response  in  the  hearts  of 
his  hearers.  All  this,  however,  is  by  no  means  an  evid- 
ence that  he  was  more  than  a  teacher  of  extraordinary 
ability. 

During  a  considerable  portion  of  His  three  years'  min- 
istry, Jesus  fully  persuaded  himself  that,  by  divine  right, 
he  was  entitled  to  the  throne  of  David.  He  did  not 


250         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

believe  himself  to  be  God,  or  to  be  equal  with  God ;  but 
without  doubt  he  felt  assured  that  he  was  the  person 
designated  by  the  prophets  who  was  to  be  the  earthly 
ruler  and  deliverer  of  the  Jews;  and  this  led  him  to 
act  in  conformity  with  the  idea.  He  fell  naturally  into 
the  custom  of  the  times  by  identifying  himself  with 
wonder-workers.  He  performed  what  are  called  miracles, 
as  many  others  did,  to  impress  the  people  with  a  deeper 
sense  of  the  validity  of  his  claim  to  so  exalted  a  position. 

Like  other  men,  he  was  created  "  in  the  image  of 
God";  St.  Paul  says  of  him  (Colossians  i.,  15):  "who  is 
the  image  of  the  invisible  God."  But  this  did  not  make 
him  God,  any  more  than  it  did  other  men,  who  are 
created  in  that  image.  An  image  is  not  the  thing  itself. 
Conspicuous  traits  in  him  were,  a  vivid  perception  of  the 
truth  as  written  upon  the  hearts  of  men,  an  apt  mode  of 
presenting  it  in  its  purity  and  beauty,  and  intense  zeal  in 
portraying  it.  "To  this  end,"  says  he,  "was  I  born,  and 
for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that  I  should  bear 
witness  unto  the  truth.  Every  one  that  is  of  the  truth, 
heareth  my  voice  "  (John  xviii.,  37).  And  this  "  truth  " 
comprised  the  two  absorbing  ideas  of  his  life — the  one 
that  he  was  appointed  to  mount  the  throne  of  David, 
and  the  other  that  he  was  sent  of  God  to  preach  and 
teach  the  way  to  heaven  by  the  practice  of  religion  in  its 
purity.  Throughout  nearly  the  whole  of  his  ministry  he 
manifested  extraordinary  zeal  and  made  the  most  strenu- 
ous efforts  in  inculcating  this  double  belief.  Nor,  con- 
sidering his  enthusiasm  and  the  personal  gifts  with  which 
he  was  graced,  need  we  wonder  that  many  of  those  about 
him  gradually  caught  his  spirit  and  espoused  his  cause. 
With  this  his  course  of  conduct  was  consistent,  but 
totally  inconsistent  with  his  being  God  or  co-equal  with 
Him. 

The  terms  Christ,  Messiah,  and  The  Anointed  One  are 
synonomous.  This  will  serve  to  explain  how  Jesus  con- 


Church  Doctrine  251 

ceived  himself  to  be  entitled,  by  virtue  of  the  prophecies, 
to  each  or  any  of  these  appellations,  and  saw  therein  his 
right  to  the  throne  of  David  determined.  It  was,  in  fact, 
only  with  respect  to  these  two  pretensions  that  the  claims 
of  Jesus  were  upheld  before  the  Jewish  people.  It  was 
not  until  very  late  in  his  lifetime  that  he  conceived  the 
idea  of  the  destruction  of  the  world,  and  the  creation  of 
a  new  one  wherein  the  righteous  only  should  dwell,  being 
ruled  over  by  himself  everlastingly  in  the  flesh. 

The  meaning  which  Church  doctrine  gives  to  belief  in 
Jesus  at  this  day  is  totally  at  variance  with  each  and  all 
of  the  views  entertained  by  himself,  and  finds  no  warrant 
either  in  the  letter  or  spirit  of  his  teachings,  or  in  the 
example  which  his  life  furnished  when  rationally  inter- 
preted. This  makes  Church  theology  a  thing  totally  dif- 
ferent from  the  religion  of  Jesus.  The  terms  of  salvation 
and  the  only  ones  that  he  prescribed  were  love  of  God, 
the  Father,  good  works,  and  kind  offices  one  towards 
another. 

Neither  does  he  anywhere  intimate,  in  any  of  his  say- 
ings or  teachings,  that  these  terms  of  salvation  were  to 
be  at  all  changed,  added  to,  or  diminished  after  his  death. 
It  was  left  for  the  Apostle  Paul,  many  years  later,  to  put 
forth  a  doctrine  totally  dissenting  from  that  which  Jesus 
had  taught  with  such  marked  effect  during  his  ministry. 
This  doctrine  of  Paul,  it  is  well  known,  is  the  basis  of  the 
Christian  theology  of  our  day.  In  this  the  main  features 
are  that  Jesus  voluntarily  gave  up  his  life  to  redeem 
from  the  consequences  of  original  sin  all  who  should  have 
faith  that  he  did  actually  suffer  death  for  this  express 
purpose,  that  such  atonement  was  both  indispensable  and 
efficacious  to  the  end  in  view,  and  that  the  real  worth  of 
the  sacrifice  consists  in  the  fact  that  the  victim  was  co- 
equal with  God. 

If  the  death  of  Jesus  imposes  a  belief  in  this  dogma 
as  an  absolutely  essential  requisite  to  eternal  life,  it  may 


252         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

be  answered  that  belief  therein  is  utterly  beyond  man's 
will,  seeing  that  it  is  inexplicable  in  itself  and  runs 
counter  to  all  we  learn  by  study  of  God's  dealings  with 
the  world.  It  is,  moreover,  wholly  out  of  the  reach  of 
those  who  never  heard  of  it,  comprising  by  far  the  majority 
of  those  beings  whom  God  created  in  His  own  image. 
Furthermore,  we  ask,  is  the  death  of  Jesus  to  give  the  lie 
to  his  life  ?  He  preached,  while  alive,  a  doctrine  that  he 
who  runs  may  read.  Is  he,  when  dead,  to  be  made  the 
centrepiece  of  a  new  and  incomprehensible  theory,  under 
which  the  burden  of  man's  sins  is  to  be  shifted  off  his 
own  shoulders?  If  this  be  so,  while  at  the  same  time 
all  the  laws  and  obligations  imposed  by  God  upon  man 
are  left  in  force,  then  most  assuredly  the  way  to  eternal 
life  has  not  been  facilitated,  but  impeded  by  this  vicari- 
ous offering  on  the  cross.  We  hold  that  the  death  of 
Jesus  works  no  change  in  the  requisites  for  our  mode  of 
salvation.  He  himself  never  claimed  that  it  involved 
any  change  whatever.  We  contend,  therefore,  that  Paul 
was  at  fault,  in  promulgating  the  idea  that  it  did.  Paul, 
too,  is  evidently  at  variance  on  these  doctrinal  points  with 
James,  and  with  Peter  also,  during  Jesus'  lifetime  at  least 
and  until  after  Peter's  own  first  sermon  was  delivered, 
and  yet  it  is  from  their  conflicting  views  that  the  present 
system  of  Christianity  is  derived,  and  by  them  that  it  is 
sustained. 

According  to  the  authority  of  the  Apostle  Paul  and 
the  Churches  that  identify  themselves  with  his  views, 
the  particular  kind  of  faith  or  belief  in  Jesus  which  they 
make  indispensable  for  salvation  could  have  had  no  ex- 
istence before  the  death  of  Jesus.  And  the  belief  which 
they  imperatively  demand  is  not  that  he  will  die  at 
some  specified  or  indefinite  time ;  but  that  he  did  die. 
The  faith  therefore  upon  which  Paul  and  the  Christian 
Churches  rely  for  salvation  finds  no  analogy,  precedent, 
or  support  in  the  faith  inculcated  by  Jesus  and  avowed 


Faith  and  Good  Works  253 

by  his  Apostles  during  his  lifetime.  The  new  creed,  for 
so  it  may  well  be  called,  materially  changes  the  order  of 
worship,  or  of  divine  service.  Jesus  himself  made  God 
the  Father  the  crowning  object  of  his  worship.  The 
Churches,  on  the  contrary,  put  Jesus  prominently  in  the 
foreground,  God  the  Father,  whom  Jesus  acknowledged 
as  the  source  and  fountain  of  all  that  is  good,  being  com- 
paratively kept  out  of  sight. 

The  extreme  views  of  Paul  and  the  fickleness  of  Peter 
hereon  do  not  need  any  further  elucidation ;  but  the  sub- 
joined passage  from  the  Epistle  of  James  (chapter  ii.) 
serves  to  show  that  this  Apostle  maintained  that  men 
have  been,  and  may  be,  justified  solely  through  good 
works  and  the  grace  of  Jehovah.  And  this  view  con- 
forms with  the  largely  preponderating  weight  of  evidence 
in  the  Scriptures ;  to  wit,  that  Jehovah  is  the  one  and 
only  true  God,  Redeemer,  and  Saviour  of  mankind,  in 
proof  of  which  we  have  elsewhere  cited  voluminous  texts. 
The  Apostle  James  says,  "  What  doth  it  profit,  my 
brethren,  though  a  man  say  he  hath  faith,  and  have  not 
works?  can  faith  save  him?  If  a  brother  or  sister  be 
naked,  and  destitute  of  daily  food,  and  one  of  you  say  unto 
them,  Depart  in  peace,  be  ye  warmed  and  filled ;  notwith- 
standing ye  give  them  not  those  things  which  are  needful 
to  the  body ;  what  doth  it  profit  ?  Even  so  faith,  if  it 
hath  not  works,  is  dead,  being  alone.  Yea,  a  man  may 
say,  Thou  hast  faith,  and  I  have  works;  shew  me  thy 
faith  without  thy  works,  and  I  will  shew  thee  my  faith 
by  my  works.  Thou  believest  that  there  is  one  God, 
thou  doest  well:  the  devils  also  believe  and  tremble. 
But  wilt  thou  know,  O  vain  man,  that  faith  without 
works  is  dead  ?  Was  not  Abraham  our  father  justified  by 
works  when  he  had  offered  Isaac  his  son  upon  the  altar? 
Seest  thou  how  faith  wrought  with  his  works,  and  by 
works  was  faith  made  perfect  ?  And  the  Scripture  was 
fulfilled  which  saith,  Abraham  believed  God,  and  it  was 


254         One  Religion  :  Many   Creeds 

imputed  unto  him  for  righteousness  and  he  was  called  the 
Friend  of  God.  Ye  see  then  how  that  by  works  a  man  is 
justified,  and  not  by  faith  only." 

Abraham,  it  is  true,  is  described  as  offering  sacrifice ; 
but  it  was  in  accordance  with  custom,  his  whole-souled 
faith  being  based  on  God  Jehovah,  not  Jesus.  Therefore, 
the  only  belief  necessary  in  connection  with  good  works, 
to  insure  salvation,  is  belief  in  the  Almighty  Jehovah ; 
and  this  is  in  flat  contradiction  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
Churches.  Thus  we  have  Paul  and  the  Churches,  on  one 
side  of  this  vexed  and  dogmatical  question ;  and  Jesus, 
James,  Natural  Religion,  and  the  balance  of  biblical 
authority  on  the  other. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  Bible  from  Jesus  showing  that 
he  ever  entertained  the  idea  that  man  was  created  perfect 
and  fell  from  that  state  through  Adam,  or  that  his  (Jesus') 
crucifixion  would  prepare  the  way  for  man's  restoration  in 
accordance  with  the  scheme  of  Christian  Theology ;  neither 
does  the  Bible  furnish  a  single  unequivocal  declaration 
from  Jesus  to  the  effect  that  he  claimed  himself  to  be 
co-equal  with  God,  nor  does  it  contain  a  solitary  word 
from  him  that  could  bear  such  construction,  which  he  did 
not  subsequently  explain  away,  or  which  has  not  since 
been  proved  to  be  erroneous. 

In  denying  having  claimed  to  be  God,  when  the  Jews 
were  about  to  stone  him  for  what  they  deemed  equivalent 
to  such  a  claim,  he  asserts  that  he  made  no  such  declara- 
tion, or  anything  that  could  be  construed  into  such,  and 
cites  the  Jewish  laws,  customs,  and  practices  in  support 
of  his  assertion  (John  x.,  33-36). 

Furthermore,  it  is  plain  from  the  following  texts  that 
the  term  God,  as  applied  to  Jesus,  does  not  necessarily 
mean  God  the  Creator  of  the  universe :  "  Your  eyes 
shall  be  opened,  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods  knowing  good 
and  evil  "  (Genesis  iii.,  5) ;  "  And  the  Lord  said  unto 
Moses,  See,  I  have  made  thee  a  god  to  Pharaoh  "  (Ex- 


St.  Paul's  Teaching  255 

odus  vii.,  i);  "Who  is  like  unto  thee,  O  Lord,  among 
the  gods?"  (Exodus  xv.,  2)  ;  "  For  the  Lord  your  God  is 
God  of  gods  "  (Deuteronomy  x.,  17) ;  "  Among  the  gods 
there  is  none  like  unto  thee,  O  Lord  "  (Psalm  Ixxxvi.,  8)  ; 
"Thou,  Lord,  art  high  above  all  the  earth;  thou  art 
exalted  far  above  all  gods  "  (Psalm  xcvii.,  9). 

Again,  what  could  be  more  emphatic  than  the  follow- 
ing language  of  the  Apostle  Paul?  "For,  though  there 
be  that  are  called  gods,  whether  in  heaven  or  in  earth, —  as 
there  be  gods  many  and  lords  many, —  but  to  us  there  is 
but  one  God,  the  Father,  of  whom  are  all  things,  and  we 
in  him  ;  and  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  are  all 
things,  and  we  by  him  "  (i  Corinthians  viii.,  5,  6) ;  "  For, 
therefore,  we  both  labour  and  suffer  reproach,  because 
we  trust  in  the  living  God,  who  is  the  Saviour  of  all  men, 
especially  of  those  that  believe"  (i  Timothy,  iv.,  10). 

Now,  within  these  three  texts,  three  points  are  laid 
down  with  decisive  clearness.  One  is  that  the  living  God 
is  the  Saviour  of  all  men,  as  distinguished  from  Jesus, 
who  is  nowhere,  in  the  Bible,  absolutely  called  the  living 
God.  Another  is,  that  there  is  but  one  God,  the  Father 
of  all  men,  and  consequently  the  Father  of  Jesus.  The 
third  is,  that  all  men  are  in  God  the  Father  and  He  in 
them.  The  expression  of  Jesus,  "  the  Father  is  in  me, 
and  I  in  him,"  implied  nothing  more  than  that  relation- 
ship which  exists  between  God  and  every  one  of  mankind. 
The  same  is  true  as  to  his  saying,  "  I  and  my  Father  are 
one" — that  is,  I  and  my  Heavenly  Father  are  one  in 
purpose.  Every  man  is  an  instrument  in  God's  hands  for 
the  accomplishment  of  His  ends ;  and  inasmuch  as  God 
has  made  sure  that  man  shall  co-operate  with  Him  to 
serve  these  ends,  in  the  way  and  to  the  full  extent  of  His 
original  intention,  every  man  in  a  certain  sense  is  one 
in  purpose  with  God.  It  is  evident  that  this  is  all  that 
Jesus  could  have  meant  by  the  expression.  The  clos- 
ing sentence  in  the  last  of  the  texts  above  quoted  may 


256          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

perhaps  be  taken  as  illustrative  of  the  changing  or  mixed 
nature  of  Paul's  religious  views.  A  Pharisee  himself, 
and  the  son  of  a  Pharisee,  and  brought  up  at  the  feet  of 
Gamaliel,  he  had  nevertheless  emancipated  himself  from 
Jewish  tradition,  and  was  content  to  preach  that  true  and 
only  religion  which  makes  —  to  use  his  own  words — "  the 
living  God  the  Saviour  of  all  men."  Not  yet  an  advoc- 
ate of  that  awful  doctrine  of  the  Church  which  dooms  the 
great  bulk  of  mankind  to  everlasting  torment,  he  had,  as  it 
were,  a  foretaste  of  its  exclusiveness ;  and  this  found  vent 
in  his  mild  phrasing,  "  especially  of  those  that  believe." 
But  whatever  Paul's  trimming,  or  meaning,  all  men  believe 
that  there  is  a  God  to  whom  they  are  accountable,  know 
right  from  wrong,  and  believe  that  virtue  is  more  estim- 
able than  vice.  But  some  men  under  the  influence  of  this 
belief,  and  actuated  by  its  agency  shape  their  daily  con- 
duct more  in  accordance  with  their  duty  to  God,  their 
neighbour,  and  their  own  welfare  than  do  others.  Every 
man,  owing  in  some  measure  to  the  various  circumstances 
which  surround  him,  is  at  different  times  more  or  less 
governed  by  varying  influences.  Hence,  exhorting  men 
to  repent  of  their  evil  deeds,  and  to  practise  good  works, 
is  among  the  services  which  one  man  may  render  to 
another ;  and  in  this  Jesus  made  himself  conspicuous. 
He  exhorted  men  to  be  mindful  of  and  to  practise  the 
religion  of  the  heart  and  conscience  ;  and  no  doubt  with 
marked  success  and  excellent  effect.  And  since  such 
practice  is  the  important  thing,  the  all-in-all,  for  this  and 
the  future  life,  and  as  the  most  stimulating  influence 
thereto  came  to  the  many  by  and  through  Jesus'  instru- 
mentality, under  the  natural  promptings  originally  im- 
planted in  man,  it  might  with  truth  be  said  that  the 
things  that  were  all-important  came  from  God,  by  and 
through  Jesus,  in  a  natural  way.  Thus  simply  is  explained 
the  expression  in  the  text,  "  Christ  by  whom  are  all  things, 
and  we  by  him." 


Jesus  Never  Claimed  Divinity         257 

The  exhorting  men  to  repentance  and  the  practice  of 
good  works,  we  say,  was  one  among  the  services  by  which 
Jesus  made  himself  conspicuous.  Repentance  was  the 
great,  the  predominant  theme  of  his  life.  It.  was  more 
on  his  lips  than  any  other.  His  name  was  more  intim- 
ately associated  with  it  than  with  any  other.  It  is  evid- 
ent, therefore,  that  he  conceived  that  the  great  want  of 
the  Jewish  people,  and  particularly  of  the  Jewish  priest- 
hood and  others  in  authority,  was  repentance.  And  it  was 
for  his  persistent  cry  to  this  end,  and  his  pretensions  to 
the  Messiahship,  that  he  suffered  persecution  and  death. 
On  these  two  ideas  he  staked  his  all.  And  being  instru- 
mental in  causing  the  Jewish  people  to  repent  and  return 
to  a  more  consistent  course,  his  disciples  continued  the 
work  in  his  name  and  under  its  prestige. 

It  is  important  here,  however,  to  observe,  that,  accord- 
ing to  the  record,  Jesus  in  his  last  and  most  important 
interview  with  his  disciples  spoke  not  a  single  word  that 
can,  by  the  remotest  inference,  be  construed  as  enjoining 
upon  them  to  preach  or  inculcate  belief  or  faith  in  certain 
claims  since  set  up  on  his  behalf.  These  were,  that  he 
was  co-equal  with  God,  and  that  belief  or  faith  in  such 
asserted  dogma  was  indispensable  to  salvation.  This 
omission  assists  greatly  in  determining  the  much  disputed 
question  of  his  relationship  with  God.  As  we  before 
remarked,  there  is  no  Bible  record  to  show  in  a  plain  and 
unmistakable  manner  that  Jesus,  out  of  his  own  mouth, 
ever  pretended  to  be  co-equal  with  God,  the  Lord  Jehovah. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  are  numerous  sayings  of  his 
which  disclaim,  or  are  inconsistent  with,  any  such  preten- 
sions. Take,  for  example,  the  following  citations.  He 
had  spoken  of  God  as  his  Father  ;  on  account  of  which 
"  The  Jews  took  up  stones  and  stoned  him.  Jesus 
answered  them,  Many  good  works  have  I  showed  you 
from  my  Father  ;  for  which  of  these  works  do  ye  stone 
me?  The  Jews  answered  him,  saying,  For  a  good  work 


258          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

we  stone  thee  not :  but  for  blasphemy,  and  because  that 
thou  being  a  man  makest  thyself  God.  Jesus  answered 
them,  Is  it  not  written  in  your  law,  I  said  ye  are  gods  ? 
If  he  called  them  gods  unto  whom  the  word  of  God  came, 
and  the  Scripture  cannot  be  broken  ;  Say  ye  of  him  whom 
the  Father  hath  sanctified,  and  sent  into  the  world,  Thou 
blasphemest,  because  I  said,  I  am  the  Son  of  God  ?  If  I 
do  not  the  works  of  my  Father  believe  me  not.  But 
if  I  do,  though  you  believe  not  me,  believe  the  works : 
that  ye  may  know,  and  believe,  that  the  Father  is  in  me, 
and  I  in  him  "  (John  x.,  31-38).  This  is  equivalent  to 
saying  that  it  did  not  follow,  nor  did  he  intend  it  to  be  so 
understood,  that  because  he  said,  "  the  Father  is  in  me 
and  I  in  him,"  he  therefore  claimed  equality  with  God 
the  Father  and  Creator  of  all  mankind.  In  justification 
of  himself,  he  cites  the  licence  which  the  Scriptures  give 
to  call  those  men  gods  unto  whom  the  word  of  God  came. 
It  is  evident,  therefore,  from  this  explanation  of  his  hav- 
ing said,  "  I  and  my  Father  are  one,"  that  he  meant  that 
he  was  God  only  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word ;  that 
by  diligently  doing  the  works  of  the  one  God,  as  others 
had  done  unto  whom  the  word  of  God  came,  he  had  the 
same  claim  to  such  an  honourable  estimation  and  title. 
In  the  event,  however,  of  their  not  yet  being  prepared  to 
acknowledge  even  this  subdued  claim,  he  took  the  pre- 
caution to  refer  them  to  the  result  of  his  works,  as  prov- 
ing that  he  was  engaged  in  promulgating  God's  will,  less 
entangled  with  error  than  was  the  case  with  their  then 
accepted  teachers. 

It  may  be  well  to  bear  in  mind,  too,  that  the  Apostle 
Paul  nowhere  gives]  Jesus  the  title  of  the  Living  God ; 
neither  did  he  believe  him  to  be  the  Saviour  of  men. 
He  speaks  clearly  to  this  point  in  two  texts,  one  of  which 
has  been  already  quoted  :  "  For  therefore  we  both  labour 
and  suffer  reproach,  because  we  trust  in  the  living  God, 
who  is  the  Saviour  of  all  men  "  (i  Timothy  iv.,  10) ;  "As 


Jesus'  Mission  259 

concerning  therefore  the  eating  of  those  things  that  are 
offered  in  sacrifice  to  idols,  we  know  an  idol  is  nothing  in 
the  world,  and  that  there  is  none  other  God  but  one  " 
(i  Corinthians  viii.,  4). 

Christian  theology  maintains  that  Jesus  came  into  the 
world  and  took  on  him  the  form  of  a  man,  for  the  express 
purpose  of  suffering  crucifixion  as  a  propitiation  for  the 
sins  of  the  world.  This  is  in  direct  contradiction  to  Jesus' 
own  declared  views  on  the  subject.  He  says :  "  To  this 
end  was  I  born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world, 
that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth  "  (John  xviii., 
37).  In  other  words,  he  meant  that  his  mission  was  to 
preach  natural  religion,  love  to  God,  love  to  man,  and 
good  works,  uncontaminated  by  the  dogmas  of  the  Jewish 
priests.  This  view  is  confirmed  out  of  his  own  lips  in 
another  place  :  "  I  will  have  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice :  for 
I  am  not  come  to  call  the  righteous,  but  sinners  to  repent- 
ance "  (Matthew  ix.,  3).  In  fact,  what  he  here  conceived 
to  be  his  relation  to  God  and  man  corresponds  exactly 
with  what  any  conscientious  minister  of  the  gospel  might 
say  of  himself,  and  forces  the  conviction  that  he  esteemed 
himself  nothing  more  than  man  in  any  sense  of  the  word. 
This  estimate  is  consistent  with  the  every-day  practice  of 
his  life.  "  And  Jesus  went  about  all  the  cities  and  vil- 
lages, teaching  in  their  synagogues,  and  preaching  the 
gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing  every  sickness  and 
every  disease  among  the  people  "  (Matthew  ix.,  34). 

No  other  view  than  this  of  his  own  conception  of  his 
vocation  and  office  can,  in  our  judgment,  be  derived  from 
the  Bible.  None  other,  we  think,  can  be  reached  by  any 
fair  and  rational  construction,  unbiassed  by  preconceived 
opinions  imbibed  from  the  false  and  forced  constructions 
of  those  who  make  it  their  business  to  mystify  and  en- 
tangle the  dogmas,  theologies,  and  creeds  of  their  own 
invention  with  true  religion — with  the  religion  of  nature — 
with  the  religion  of  which  Jehovah  is  at  once  the  founder, 


260         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

the  great  high-priest,  and  the  preserver,  and  of  which 
Jesus  was,  in  much  of  his  teachings,  though  not  the 
author,  a  remarkably  true  and  zealous  expounder.  At 
the  same  time,  while  there  is  no  reliable  proof  that  Jesus 
is  God,  there  is  much  to  the  contrary,  which  ought,  as  we 
conceive,  to  be  conclusive  to  all.  The  negative  evidence 
is  so  strong  that  no  one  can  pretend  that  Jesus  ever  occu- 
pied the  throne  of  David  in  the  capacity  predicted  or  in 
any  other.  This  alone,  in  all  fairness,  should  suffice  for 
the  total  discredit  of  all  the  prophecies  upon  which  his 
Messiahship  has  been  based  ;  and  would  do  so  were  it 
not  for  the  ingenuity,  adroitness,  learning,  mental  abil- 
ity, and  persistence  of  the  leading  priests  in  ancient  and 
modern  times.  The  former,  in  an  age  when  superstition 
and  ignorance  favoured  their  designs,  stimulated  by  pec- 
uniary interest  and  a  greed  for  domination,  ensnared  their 
unsuspecting  victims  into  a  web  of  the  marvellous  and 
mysterious,  which  for  the  unenlightened  has  a  charm  so 
intricate,  so  subtle,  and  so  strong  that  generations  of 
intellectual  culture  were  required  to  extricate  men  from 
its  toils.  As  to  the  modern  priesthood,  while  the  craving 
for  wealth  and  power  equally  subsists  in  them,  the  mo- 
ment the  fallacy  of  their  teaching  is  detected,  they  shape 
and  twist  their  theology,  interpreting  this  passage  of 
Scripture  symbolically,  and  that  one  literally,  as  serves 
the  occasion,  so  that  it  becomes  well-nigh  impossible  to 
bring  them  to  an  acknowledgment  of  the  untenableness 
of  their  position.  Thus,  if  they  cannot  elude  detection 
as  to  the  hollowness  of  many  among  their  ingeniously 
contrived  devices,  they  at  least  find  some  loop-hole  for 
escape  ;  and  the  more  they  are  pressed  to  the  wall  by  the 
intelligence  of  the  age,  the  more  vehemently  they  cry 
out :  "  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptised  shall  be  saved  ; 
but  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  Nor  could 
there  be  a  more  striking  instance  of  clerical  perversion 
than  occurs  in  reference  to  this  denunciation.  It  is  ap- 


Character  of  Jesus'  Precepts          261 

plied  from  a  thousand  pulpits  to  the  whole  complicated 
theory  of  original  sin,  and  redemption  by  the  blood  of 
Christ.  Under  what  circumstances  did  Jesus  utter  it? 
With  respect  to  the  scheme,  as  it  is  well  called,  of  salva- 
tion ?  Not  at  all.  Immediately  preceding  the  record  of 
these  words  is  this  verse  (Mark  xvi.,  14)  :  "  Afterward  he 
appeared  unto  the  eleven  as  they  sat  at  meat,  and  up- 
braided them  with  their  unbelief  and  hardness  of  heart, 
because  they  believed  not  them  which  had  seen  him  after 
he  was  risen."  Not  a  word  here  touching  sin  or  sacri- 
fice. It  is  only  unbelief  in  his  personal  identity — the 
unbelief  of  his  own  disciples  then  before  him — that  is  so 
unceremoniously  denounced  by  Jesus.  But  the  time  is 
fast  approaching  when  all  this  cloud  of  error  will  be  dis- 
persed and  the  craft  of  a  profession  rendered  futile. 
Human  physical  slavery  has  been  compelled  to  succumb 
at  the  mandate  of  educated  honesty.  The  enslavers  of 
human  intellect  must  ere  long  lose  their  prestige  over  the 
intellects  of  others  and  cease  to  prey  upon  the  pecuniary 
substance  of  their  fellow-men.  Conscience,  common- 
sense,  and  culture  are  fast  gaining  the  mastery  over 
church,  theology,  and  a  dogmatic  priesthood. 

The  doctrine  of  Jesus  is  nowhere  more  plainly  laid 
down  than  in  his  own  description  of  the  view  that  will 
be  taken  of  the  conduct  of  men  by  the  final  judge  of  the 
world.  "  I  was,"  says  he,  "  a  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me 
meat :  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  drink :  I  was  a 
stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in :  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me ; 
I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  me :  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye 
came  unto  me."  In  reply  to  the  inquiry  when  these 
things  were  done  in  his  behalf,  the  King  says  that,  Inas- 
much as  they  were  done  to  the  least  of  his  little  ones, 
they  were  done  unto  him  (Matthew  xxv.,  35,  36).  Such 
is  what  Jesus  considers  to  be  requisite  for  entering  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  that  is  to  say,  good  works,  which 
are,  practically,  love  to  God  and  love  to  man.  He  con- 


262          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

ceives  that  there  is  nothing  further  required.  The  grand 
aim  of  his  own  life,  at  least  of  the  earlier  parts  of  it,  seems 
to  have  been  to  manifest  such  a  disposition.  I  am  come, 
said  he,  on  another  occasion,  "  not  to  destroy,  but  to  ful- 
fil the  law  "  ;  and  the  context  shows  that  he  had  reference 
to  the  moral  law  of  God,  which  was  over  him  in  common 
with  all  mankind.  He  therefore  exhorted  all  about  him 
to  strive  for  this  one  thing,  to  become  obedient  to  the 
laws  of  God,  that  they  might  be  like  Him, — God.  "  Be  ye, 
therefore,  perfect,"  said  he,  "  as  your  Father  also  is  per- 
fect "  (Matthew  v.,  48).  His  precepts  and  teachings  in 
detail,  too,  were  all  of  this  same  character.  "  Blessed  are 
the  merciful,"  said  he,  "  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy. 
Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God. 
Blessed  are  the  peace-makers,  for  they  shall  be  called  the 
children  of  God  "  (Matthew  v.,  7-9) ;  "  Do  not  commit 
adultery;  Do  riot  steal;  Do  not  bear  false  witness ;  De- 
fraud not ;  Honour  thy  father  and  mother  "  (Mark  x., 
19);  "Forgive  men  their  tresspasses  "  (Matthew  vi.  14); 
"Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye 
even  so  to  them,  for  this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets  " 
(Matthew  vii.,  12).  Now,  what  a  catalogue  of  good  works 
does  he  here  collect  which,  while  they  have  no  reference 
to  any  peculiar  sentiments  of  his  own,  are  accepted  and 
inculcated  by  him  as  the  teaching  of  God  to  all  men, 
through  their  intuitions  and  proper  sense  of  right,  and 
which  he  considered  himself  as  much  bound  to  obey  as 
ourselves.  And  that  he  and  others  who  lived  by  this  rule 
might  be  acknowledged  as  so  doing,  he  gave  a  test 
whereby  men  might  judge  in  this  matter:  "Ye  shall 
know  them  by  their  fruits,"  said  he;  and  again:  "A 
good  man  out  of  the  good  treasure  of  his  heart  bringeth 
forth  good  things."  He  was  a  good  man,  but  he  claimed 
to  be  nothing  more.  He  nowhere  speaks  of  himself  as 
God ;  on  the  contrary,  he  almost  invariably  calls  himself 
"the  Son  of  man",  and  defends  himself  from  the  charge 


Character  of  Jesus'  Precepts          263 

of  calling  himself  God  when  using  expressions  that  were 
so  construed,  on  the  plea  that  such  expressions  were 
allowable  under  the  Jewish  usages,  without  implying  that 
he  made  himself  God.  That  this  is  his  estimate  of  him- 
self may  be  seen  still  more  clearly.  He  quotes  from  the 
Old  Testament — and  "the  first  of  all  the  command- 
ments is,  'Hear,  O  Israel;  the  Lord  our  God  is  ONE 
LORD.'  "  He  thus  emphatically  acknowledges  that  there 
is  but  one  God,  which  is  equivalent  to  denying  that  he 
himself  was  God.  But  if  this  is  not  deemed  sufficient, 
hear  what  he  says  further:  "  Worship  the  Father  in  spirit 
and  in  truth  "  (John  iv.,  23) ;  "  Jesus  said  unto  them,  My 
meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me  "  (John  iv.,  34 ; 
"  I  speak  not  of  myself ;  the  Father  which  sent  me  gave 
me  the  commandments"  (John  v.,  37);  "My  Father  is 
greater  than  I "  (John  xiv.,  28).  Now,  are  not  these  ex- 
pressions equally  applicable  to  and  proper  to  be  made  by 
all  men  who  are  teachers  of  true  religion  ?  So  far  as  our 
knowledge  extends,  through  our  natural  instincts  and 
intuitions,  there  neither  is  nor  can  be,  any  intermediate 
grade  of  being  or  beings  between  God  and  man. 

But  is  it  claimed  that  he  was  sent  by  the  Father  and 
that  he  was  endowed  with  supernatural  powers,  because 
he  said :  "  And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know 
thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou 
hast  sent  "  (John  xviii.,  31).  In  the  same  sense  God  sends 
every  man  into  the  world.  It  is  the  light  of  God  in  the 
soul  of  man  which  is  his  true  teacher:  "That  was  the 
true  light  which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into 
the  world  "  (John  i.,  9) ;  "  Behold  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  within  you"  (Luke  xvii.,  21);  "Fear  not,  for  it  is  the 
Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom  "  (Luke 
xii.,  32) ;  "  Blessed  are  they  who  hear  the  word  of  God 
and  keep  it  "  (Luke  xi.,  28) — that  is,  blessed  are  they  who 
hear  and  obey  the  voice  of  conscience  and  the  teaching 
of  the  external  universe;  "He  that  doeth  truth  cometh 


264         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

to  the  light,  that  his  deeds  may  be  made  manifest  that 
they  are  wrought  in  God"  (John  iii.,  21);  "  Jesus  an- 
swered them,  My  doctrine  is  not  mine,  but  his  that  sent 
me"  (John  vii.,  i6)—it  would  be  well  if  all  teachers  could 
conscientiously  say  this ;  "  Jesus  cried  and  said,  He  that 
believeth  on  me,  believeth  not  on  me,  but  on  him  that 
sent  me  "  (John  xii.,  44) — which  is  of  extreme  significance 
in  determining  this  question,  as  it  is  equivalent  to  saying 
that  belief  in  him  is  a  mere  figure  of  speech,  to  indicate 
belief  in  the  God  Jehovah.  From  this  it  is  evident  that, 
wherever  Jesus  speaks  of  man's  welfare  as  being  advanced 
by  love  to  and  belief  in  him,  he  simply  means  that  man 
is  to  believe  in  and  love  and  practise  the  doctrines  which 
he  is  urging  on  the  attention  of  his  hearers,  and  these  are 
always  of  one  and  the  same  import, — love  to  God  and  man. 
Take  collectively  those  exhortations  of  Jesus  which  are 
recorded  in  the  Bible ;  and,  although  they  are  not  always 
in  harmony  or  consistent  with  each  other,  the  only  ra- 
tional deduction  and  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  them 
is,  that  he  conceived  himself  to  stand  in  the  same  relation 
to  God  as  other  men,  except  that  he  was  inculcating  a 
purer  doctrine  than  that  taught  by  those  about  him. 
And  it  is  this  separation  of  true  religion  from  error,  at  a 
day  when  it  was  so  pre-eminently  needed,  that  made  him 
dear  to  the  people  of  that  period  and  his  remembrance 
precious  to  succeeding  generations.  His  saying,  "  believe 
in  me,"  meant  nothing  further  than  believe  in  the  doc- 
trines which  I  teach  and  which  go  by  my  name ;  thus  im- 
plying that  he  is  but  as  other  men  who  advocate  religion 
in  its  purity. 

By  thus  associating  himself  with  other  men  in  the  duties 
of  his  office  and  ministry,  it  is  evident  that,  according  to 
his  view,  they  all  stand  in  the  same  relation  to  God ;  that 
he  and  they  are  all  alike  the  recipients  of  God's  love,  all 
alike  subject  to  His  laws,  will,  and  guidance.  The  only 
difference  between  him  and  those  about  him  was,  that  he 


Character  of  Jesus'  Precepts          265 

set  himself  up  as  their  teacher  and  that  they  acknow- 
ledged themselves  to  be  his  disciples.  This  view  of  Jesus 
and  his  vocation  is  far  better  supported  by  his  own  say- 
ings and  doings,  than  the  position,  attributes,  and  functions 
assigned  to  him  by  the  Christian  Church.  It  may  be  that 
at  times  he  went  a  little  beyond  the  natural  teaching  of 
God  to  all  men  ;  no  doubt  he  did  in  some  of  the  kindly 
feelings  and  offices  which  he  conceived  should  be  enter- 
tertained  and  practised  by  men  one  towards  another. 
Perhaps  in  some  particulars  they  are  too  refined  for  gen- 
eral observance  and  application.  Indeed,  it  will  be  at  once 
recognised  that  they  are  more  than  average  human  nature 
is  capable  of  manifesting.  Of  such  kind  are  these  :  "  But 
I  say  unto  you  that  ye  resist  not  evil :  but  whosoever  shall 
smite  thee  on  thy  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also. 
And  if  any  man  will  sue  thee  at  the  law,  and  take  away 
thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloak  also.  And  whosoever 
shall  compel  thee  to  go  a  mile,  go  with  him  twain.  Give 
to  him  that  asketh  thee,  and  from  him  that  would  borrow 
of  thee  turn  not  thou  away.  Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath 
been  said,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour,  and  hate  thine 
enemy.  But  I  say  unto  you,  Love  your  enemies,  bless 
them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to  them  which  hate  you  ; 
and  pray  for  them  which  despitefully  use  you  and  perse- 
cute you  "  (Matthew  v.,  39-44). 

Still,  making  allowance  for  these  exaggerations,  we 
maintain  that  the  only  practical  mode  of  manifesting 
ardent  love  to  God  is  the  actual  performance,  with  lively 
diligence,  of  those  things  which  are  just,  and  true,  and 
good.  This  is  inculcated  by  Jesus  in  most  impressive 
terms,  some  of  which  we  have  quoted,  and  his  seal  is  put 
upon  the  worth  of  this  practical  faith  by  his  emphatic 
saying  with  reference  to  charities,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have 
done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren  ye 
have  done  it  unto  me."  Whoever  follows  this  course 
faithfully  and  sincerely  we  insist  is  a  religious  man  in  the 


266         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

fullest  sense  of  the  word,  notwithstanding  the  combined 
declarations  of  all  Christendom  to  the  contrary. 

The  denunciations  of  Jesus  were  as  emphatic  as  they 
could  be  against  those  who  incidentally  perverted  his 
teachings,  which,  though  imparted  by  God  to  all  men 
without  Jesus'  aid,  were  so  enthusiastically  enforced  by 
him  as  to  produce  great  uneasiness  and  consternation 
amongst  the  corrupt  rulers  and  priesthood  of  his  time ; 
indeed,  so  much  so  as  to  cause  him  to  be  falsely  accused 
and  murdered  on  the  cross,  under  pretence  of  judicial 
authority.  Among  the  rebukes  administered  by  Jesus  to 
the  priesthood  of  his  day  are  there  not  some  as  applicable 
now  to  that  same  class  of  individuals  as  they  were  then? 
"  For  laying  aside  the  commandment  of  God,  ye  hold  the 
tradition  of  men,  as  the  washing  of  pots  and  cups;. and 
many  other  such  like  things  ye  do.  .  .  .  Ye  reject  the  com- 
mandments of  God  that  ye  may  keep  your  own  tradi- 
tion. Making  the  word  of  God  of  none  effect  through 
your  tradition,  which  ye  have  delivered  :  and  many  such 
like  things  do  ye  "  (Mark  vii.,  8,  9,  13). 

To  the  simple  teachings  of  Nature  and  Jesus  theo- 
logians add  that  of  natural  depravity  of  man.  This  idea 
is  false  in  its  conception.  It  is  an  imputation  against  the 
wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  and  blasphemous  in  its 
character.  It  implies  that  God  is  neither  Omnipotent  nor 
Omniscient ;  that  He  is  unable  to  create  and  control  all 
things  aright  according  to  His  will  and  pleasure. 

Exciting  terror  in  the  minds  of  men,  by  teaching  the 
doctrine  of  eternal  torment,  is  another  imputation  against 
God's  infinite  goodness.  These  and  many  others  of  a 
similar  nature,  we  hesitate  not  to  say,  have  had  their 
origin  in  the  attempts  of  dishonest  and  designing  men  to 
defraud  their  more  honest  and  unsuspecting  fellow-crea- 
tures. Examples  of  this  we  have,  even  amongst  the 
earliest  and  perhaps  more  sincere  followers  of  Jesus ; 
nay,  even  amongst  those  who  are  called  his  Apostles. 


Ananias  and  Sapphira  267 

Take  the  well-known  story  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira  as 
a  sample :  "  Neither  was  there  any  among  them  that 
lacked  :  for  as  many  as  were  possessors  of  lands  or  houses 
sold  them,  and  brought  the  prices  of  the  things  that  were 
sold,  and  laid  them  down  at  the  Apostles'  feet :  and  dis- 
tribution was  made  unto  every  man  according  as  he  had 
need.  "  And  Joses,  who  by  the  Apostles  was  surnamed 
Barnabas  (which  is,  being  interpreted,  The  son  of  consola- 
tion), a  Levite,  and  of  the  country  of  Cyprus,  having 
land,  sold  it,  and  brought  the  money,  and  laid  it  at  the 
Apostles'  feet "  (Acts  iv.,  34-37).  "  But  a  certain  man 
named  Ananias,  with  Sapphira  his  wife,  sold  a  pos- 
session, and  kept  back  part  of  the  price,  his  wife  also 
being  privy  to  it,  and  brought  a  certain  part  and  laid  it  at 
the  Apostles'  feet.  But  Peter  said,  Ananias,  why  hath 
Satan  filled  thine  heart  to  lie  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to 
keep  back  part  of  the  price  of  the  land  ?  While  it  re- 
mained, was  it  not  thine  own,  and  after  it  was  sold,  was 
it  not  in  thine  own  power  ?  Why  hast  thou  conceived 
this  thing  in  thine  heart?  Thou  hast  not  lied  unto  men, 
but  unto  God.  And  Ananias  hearing  these  words  fell 
down  and  gave  up  the  ghost :  and  great  fear  came  on 
them  that  heard  these  things.  And  the  young  men  arose, 
wound  him  up,  and  carried  him  out  and  buried  him.  And 
it  was  about  the  space  of  three  hours  after,  when  his  wife, 
not  knowing  what  was  done,  came  in.  And  Peter  an- 
swered unto  her,  Tell  me  whether  ye  sold  the  land  for  so 
much?  And  she  said,  Yea,  for  so  much.  Then  Peter 
said  unto  her,  How  is  it  that  ye  have  agreed  together  to 
tempt  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  ?  Behold  the  feet  of  them 
which  have  buried  thy  husband  are  at  the  door,  and  shall 
carry  thee  out.  Then  fell  she  down  straightway  at  his 
feet,  and  yielded  up  the  ghost ;  and  the  young  men  came 
in,  and  found  her  dead,  and  carrying  her  forth,  buried  her 
by  her  husband.  And  great  fear  came  upon  all  the 
Church,  and  upon  as  many  as  heard  these  things"  (Acts 


268          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

v.,  i-n).  The  idea  attempted  to  be  inculcated  by  these 
representations  is,  that  God  was  so  incensed  and  offended 
with  the  persons  who  withheld  a  part  of  their  possessions 
for  their  own  use,  instead  of  giving  it  all  to  the  Apostles, 
that  He,  instantly,  by  an  especial  act,  struck  them  dead. 
Now,  this  we  hold  to  be  entirely  at  variance  with  God's 
dealings  with  His  creatures  at  this  or  any  other  time  and 
place,  and  the  promulgation  of  such  a  story  was,  as  we 
conceive,  a  trick,  a  cheat,  for  the  purpose  of  extorting 
money  from,  and  gainingdomination  over,  those  susceptible 
of  being  so  wrought  upon  through  their  fears.  If  it  shall 
be  suggested  as  possible  that  the  death  of  these  persons 
took  place  in  accordance  with  the  natural  workings  of 
God's  universal  and  never-varying  laws,  we  reply  :  Had  it 
been  Ananias  alone  who  was  said  to  be  stricken  dead,  we 
might  attribute  his  death  to  the  effect  of  sudden  shame 
or  fear  acting  upon  a  system  deranged  by  high  nervous 
excitement.  Rare  as  such  cases  are,  they  are  not  entirely 
inconsistent  with  the  physical  laws  of  our  being,  nor  alto- 
gether beyond  our  natural  experiences.  But  when  a 
second  person,  after  so  brief  an  interval,  is  put  through 
the  same  identical  process  of  cross-questioning,  condem- 
nation, and  collapse,  even  the  most  extreme  credulity 
takes  alarm  and  shies  off.  One  fortuitous  coincidence 
between  Peter's  denunciation  and  the  breaking  of  human 
heart-strings  might  be  received  as  a  possible  circumstance. 
Two  such  fortuitous  coincidences,  coming  one  close  upon 
another,  pass  all  bounds  of  credibleness.  If  it  be  claimed 
that  the  persons  of  the  day  of  the  early  Apostles  had 
more  tender  consciences  in  regard  to  lying  or  false  pre- 
tence than  those  of  our  day,  and,  therefore,  might  be 
more  likely  to  die  from  a  sense  of  shame  on  account  of 
having  been  detected  in  making  false  representations,  it 
so  happens  that  we  are  not  without  means  of  testing  the 
susceptibility  of  the  Apostles  themselves,  which  at  least 
should  not  fall  below  that  of  the  common  people  about 


Rational  Explanation  269 

them.  It  appears  from  Bible  record  that  Peter,  the  ver- 
itable Apostle  who  accused  Ananias  of  lying,  spoke 
falsely  when  he  denied  knowledge  of  Jesus  thrice  in  suc- 
cession. But,  when  detected,  he  neither  fell  dead  from 
shame,  nor  was  he  stricken  down  by  the  Almighty.  Again, 
the  character  and  the  false  spirit  of  Judas  are  indicated 
by  his  betrayal  of  Jesus  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies, 
and  by  his  own  thieving  propensities.  All  this  proves 
that  human  nature  was  no  better  in  the  time  of  Peter  and 
Judas  than  now;  and  this  puts  it  beyond  possible  credi- 
bility that  Ananias  and  his  wife  died  (if  death  there  was) 
of  a  broken  heart. 

This  leaves  no  alternative  but  to  refer  their  death  to  a 
supernatural  cause.  Now,  we  appeal  to  the  rational  and 
common-sense  men  of  our  day,  whether,  if  at  this  time, 
and  in  any  part  of  the  world,  an  occurrence  of  the  kind 
under  consideration  were  said  to  have  taken  place  as  a 
supernatural  and  especial  exhibition  of  God's  vengeance, 
for  the  cause  assigned  by  the  Apostle  Peter,  it  would 
receive  the  slightest  credence  ?  And  yet,  this  is  the  ver- 
sion that  Luke  gives  of  the  pretended  phenomena.  We 
further  submit  whether  the  claiming  of  Peter  that  God  in 
His  vengeance  smote  two  persons  dead  in  quick  succession, 
for  the  cause  assigned,  does  not  come  with  a  particularly 
ill  grace  from  a  person  notoriously  untruthful,  from  one 
whom  Jesus  denounced  as  Satanic,  and  as  savouring  not 
duly  of  the  things  of  God.  It  is  further  submitted, 
whether,  if  the  death  of  the  persons  in  question  did  occur 
at  the  time  and  place,  and  under  the  circumstances  nar- 
rated, is  it  not  more  likely  that  it  resulted  from  foul  play, 
instigated  by  the  Apostles  for  base  purposes,  rather  than 
that  the  immediate  cause  of  death  was  the  upbraidings  of 
conscience,  fear,  or  the  supernatural  visitation  of  God 
manifested  for  the  express  purpose  of  frightening  people 
into  putting  all  their  property  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Apostles.  And  this  trick,  as  we  deem  it,  had  for  a  time 


270         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

the  expected  effect ;  and  "  great  fear  came  upon  all  the 
Church  and  upon  as  many  as  heard  these  things."  These 
people  were  evidently  made  to  fear  lest  they  should  not 
conform  to  the  wishes  of  the  Apostles,  and  thereby  sub- 
ject themselves  to  the  summary  vengeance  of  God  in- 
voked by  them.  And  we  are  told  that  "  by  the  hands 
of  the  Apostles  were  many  signs  and  wonders  wrought 
among  the  people.  .  .  .  And  of  the  rest  durst  no 
man  join  himself  to  them."  Unclean  spirits  also,  as  we 
say,  were  pretended  to  be  cast  out,  another  false  pretence 
for  the  gaining  of  power.  "  And  believers  were  the  more 
added  to  the  Lord,  both  men  and  women." 

We  have  no  doubt  but  that  the  character  of  this  belief 
was  that,  if  they  —  that  is,  all  upon  whom  great  fear 
came  —  did  not  blindly  follow  the  bidding  of  the  Apostles 
in  relation  to  the  giving  up  all  their  property  to  them, 
they  could  not  escape  the  vengeance  of  the  Lord,  which 
the  Apostles  would  invoke  against  them.  This  presents 
a  dark  picture  of  human  nature  ;  but  the  odium  pertains 
but  to  a  comparative  few  —  the  mass  of  mankind  are  of 
the  better  sort. 

We  are  happy  to  believe  that  a  large  majority  of  the 
enlightened  men  of  our  day  and  country  not  only  disbe- 
lieve that  the  man  and  his  wife  were  stricken  down  by 
God  for  the  reason  assigned  by  the  Apostles ;  they  also 
are  shocked  by  the  hypocrisy,  and  perchance  the  mur- 
derous spirit,  involved  in  the  affair.  But  the  Apostles 
were  not  without  their  competitors  and  imitators  in  this 
respect.  There  were  at  that  time  many  different  churches, 
doctrines,  and  creeds,  some  of  which  preceded  them.  The 
leaders  of  the  earlier  sects,  perceiving  that  the  new- 
comers were  even  more  greedy  than  themselves  —  claiming 
not  only  a  part  of  men's  substance,  but  the  whole, — feared 
lest  there  would  be  nothing  left.  On  this  account,  and 
on  account  of  the  growing  influence  of  the  Apostles,  they 
often  came  in  conflict  with  each  other ;  and  one  of  the 


Unjustifiable  Teachings  271 

results  of  these  feuds  is  thus  set  down.  "  The  high  priest 
rose  up,  and  all  they  that  were  with  him,  which  is  the 
sect  of  the  Sadducees,  and  were  filled  with  indignation. 
And  laid  their  hands  on  the  Apostles,  and  put  them  in  the 
common  prison  "  (Acts  v.,  17,  18). 

We  trace,  also,  in  this  transaction  the  germ  of  that 
dominating  and  grasping  spirit  which  was  carried  to  so 
revolting  a  pitch  by  the  Christian  Church  during  the 
dark  and  middle  ages,  as  is  seen  elsewhere  in  this  work. 
And  yet  there  are  many  practices,  in  some  of  the  Chris- 
tian Churches,  at  the  present  time,  which  are  only  a  little 
less  glaring  and  despicable. 

A  striking  analogy  exists  between  Peter's  intimidating 
process  for  raising  revenue  for  the  Church,  and  that  which 
yet  so  extensively  prevails.  We  allude  especially  to  the 
menacing  of  the  people  by  threats  of  everlasting  punish- 
ment if  they  do  not  embrace  a  particular  dogma  or  article 
of  faith  to  the  exclusion  of  many  others.  Might  it  not 
be  said,  therefore,  that  here  in  Peter  is  the  symbolic  found- 
ation of  the  Church,  which  is  so  faithful  to  his  propens- 
ities, and  which,  we  augur,  will  not  be  able  much  longer 
to  withstand  the  flood  of  light,  common  sense,  and  reason 
that  menaces  it,  both  in  this  and  other  countries  ? 

We  proceed  to  point  to  some  of  the  other  devices,  that 
are  resorted  to  at  the  present  day,  for  swelling  the  coffers 
of  the  Church,  and  which  we  conceive  to  be  altogether 
unjustifiable.  Prominent  among  them  is  the  preaching  of 
mystical  and  wonder-exciting  dogmas  and  theologies,  and 
the  exhibition  of  imposing  ritualism,  ceremonies,  and 
paraphernalia,  the  invention  and  traditions  of  men,  so 
appropriately  condemned  by  Jesus  in  these  pertinent 
words :  "  For  laying  aside  the  commandments  of  God,  ye 
hold  the  tradition  of  men.  .  .  .  Making  the  word  of 
God  of  none  effect  through  your  traditions."  Again,  the 
fable  of  Purgatory  is  instrumental  in  extracting  large 
sums  from  those  who  are  made  to  believe  that  their 


272          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

deceased  friends  are  suffering  terrific  torments  therein, 
and  can  only  be  released  from  it  by  the  prayers  of  the 
Church,  which  prayers  can  only  be  procured  by  money 
forthcoming.  The  granting  of  indulgences  by  the  Church, 
which  in  plainer  language  means  the  privilege  to  sin,  and 
absolution  from  the  consequences  of  sin  —  neither  of  which 
God  ever  grants  —  may  also  be  named  as  prolific  and  dis- 
graceful sources  of  revenue  to  the  Church.  Representing 
God  as  punishing  the  smallest  sin  everlastingly  with  the 
most  excruciating  torment  in  a  wrathful  and  vindictive 
spirit  —  unless  the  sinner  has  full  faith  that  Jesus  is 
co-equal  with  Jehovah,  and  that  he  (Jesus)  is  the  only 
Saviour  of  men  from  everlasting  punishment,  entailed  on 
them  by  reason  of  the  sin  of  Adam  —  is  another  of  the 
whips  with  which  they  scourge  the  people.  This  threat- 
ening with  God's  vengeance  all  who  are  not  within  the 
pale  of  the  Church  is  of  the  same  character  as  the  farce 
enacted  by  the  Apostles  before  mentioned,  and  is  resorted 
to  with  a  similar  view.  Its  object  is  to  frighten  into  their 
net  all  those  who  are  susceptible  of  being  so  operated 
upon,  and  thus,  incidentally,  to  swell  the  Church's  gain. 
Such  an  intimidating  process  cannot  be  persisted  in  by  the 
clergy  with  an  eye  single  to  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
welfare  of  their  hearers,  while  at  the  same  time  they  have 
a  full  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  such  Bible  testimony 
as  is  here  cited :  "  Yet  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God  from  the 
land  of  Egypt,  and  thou  shalt  know  no  god  but  me :  for 
there  is  no  Saviour  beside  me  "  (Hosea  xiii.,  4)  ;  u  I  am 
the  Lord  thy  God,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  thy  Saviour" 
(Isaiah  xliii.,  3)  ;  "  I,  even  I,  am  the  Lord  ;  and  beside  me 
there  is  no  saviour  "  (Isaiah  xliii.,  1 1)  ;  "  And  all  flesh  shall 
know  that  I  the  Lord  am  thy  Saviour  and  thy  Redeemer, 
the  mighty  One  of  Jacob  "  (Isaiah  xlix.,  26) ;  "  We  trust 
in  the  living  God,  who  is  the  Saviour  of  all  men,  spe- 
cially of  those  that  believe"  (i  Timothy  iv.,  10) ;  and  we 
insist  that  all  men  believe,  as  we  heretofore  endeavoured 


Restlessness  of  the  Soul  273 

to  show.  The  appellation  of  the  Living  God  is  nowhere 
in  the  Bible  applied  to  Jesus.  Peter  called  him  the  Son 
of  the  Living  God,  but  we  have  before  shown  that  this 
might  be  applied  to  other  men  as  well  as  to  Jesus.  In 
addition  to  the  foregoing,  however,  there  are  in  the  Bible 
a  dozen  or  more  texts  directly  affirming  that  there  is  but 
one  God,  and  not  a  word  positively  declaring  that  Jesus 
is  God  —  co-equal  with  Jehovah. 

But  further  proof  of  the  erroneous  dogmas  and  declar- 
ations of  the  Church  can  be  furnished:  "All  flesh  shall 
see  the  salvation  of  God  "  (Luke  iii.,  4,  6) ;  "  And  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  revealed,  and  all  flesh  shall  see 
it  together :  for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it  " 
(Isaiah  xl.,  5).  These  texts  give  assurance  that  each 
human  being  will  be  saved  by  the  Lord  God  Jehovah, 
to  the  enjoyment  of  His  glory  —  not  by  Jesus,  as  some 
assert.  They  are  also  irreconcilable  with  the  Church 
dogma  that  the  majority  of  mankind  will  be  the  subjects 
of  God's  everlasting  vengeance.  If  it  shall  be  objected 
that  there  is  Bible  authority  for  such  a  dogma,  and  suffi- 
cient for  it,  then  we  say  that  this  does  but  show  that  the 
Bible  is  fallible,  and  the  production  of  fallible  men,  since 
God  cannot  contradict  Himself. 

If  the  human  soul  is  placed  upon  earth  as  a  preparatory 
measure  to  fit  it  for  an  existence  in  eternity,  the  natural 
inference  is,  that  the  soul  retains  its  main  characteristics 
throughout,  and  there  is  nothing  in  the  so-called  Word  of 
God  to  contradict  this  idea.  The  soul  naturally  craves 
constant  progression  from  one  state  to  another.  A 
continued  state  of  rest,  even  unattended  with  pain  or 
want,  cannot  afford  happiness ;  nothing  short  of  progress 
from  incident  to  incident,  from  new  interests  to  new 
interests  can  satisfy  the  soul  —  to  be  happy  it  must  be  in 
harmony  with  the  gravitating  influence  which  is  ever 
leading  it  on  the  great  mission  of  assimilating  itself  to  its 
Maker.  Restlessness  is  one  of  the  great  features  with 

18 


274         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

which  God  has  endowed  the  soul,  to  the  end  that  it  may 
never  cease  seeking  Him  and  finding  out  more  and  more 
the  wondrous  ways  and  mysteries  of  God,  and  glorifying 
Him — and  yet  the  theologians  tell  us  that  beyond  the 
grave  the  blessings  of  Christ's  kingdom  shall  be  peace  and 
quietness  for  ever.  "  And  my  people  shall  dwell  in  peace- 
able habitations  and  in  sure  dwellings,  and  in  quiet  rest- 
ing places  "  (Isaiah  xxxii.,  18).  This  is  adverse  to  the 
great  purposes  of  God.  The  course  of  the  human  spirit  is 
onward. 

Man,  so  far  as  we  know,  is  the  only  created  being  en- 
dowed with  qualities  capable  of  comprehending  and  ap- 
preciating the  wisdom,  goodness,  and  glory  of  God. 
Shall  his  brief  existence  upon  earth,  while  there  is  an 
eternity  before  him,  be  the  limit  of  time  allowed  to  com- 
plete his  strivings  to  know  God,  the  inexhaustible? — no; 
the  normal  condition  of  the  human  soul  is  neither  per- 
petual rest  in  peace  or  perpetual  torment,  but  a  never- 
ceasing  activity  in  cultivating  and  bringing  itself  more 
and  more  to  the  appreciation  of  its  Maker.  The  follow- 
ing is  quite  as  wide  of  the  true  nature  of  the  soul  as  the 
foregoing  theological  view.  The  Bible  narrative  in  rela- 
tion to  our  first  parents  is  so  construed  by  the  Church  as 
to  inculcate  the  idea  that  Adam  and  Eve  and  all  their 
posterity  were  originally  intended  by  God  to  live  a  life 
of  ease,  and  without  labour,  pain,  care,  death,  or  anything 
else  to  disturb  them  from  a  perfect  state  of  peace,  happi- 
ness, and  quietness,  instead  of  experiencing  the  vicissi- 
tudes incident  to  an  active  life  of  good  works.  A  further 
construction  of  the  theologians  put  upon  this  fable  would, 
if  true,  present  the  matter  thus : 

If  the  first  human  pair  had  not  eaten  of  the  forbidden 
fruit,  no  one  of  the  human  family  would  have  perceived 
that  their  nakedness  was  uncomely  in  the  presence  of 
others ;  in  other  words,  there  would  have  been  no  such 
trait  in  human  character  as  modesty.  The  inauguration 


Inferences  275 

of  modesty  appears  from  the  Bible  narrative  to  have 
been  the  very  first  consequence  of  disobedience  of  com- 
mand, and  it  is  apparent,  as  the  story  goes,  that  God 
recognised  the  sensation  of  shame  which  Adam  and  Eve 
experienced  in  consequence  of  their  nakedness  as  being 
praiseworthy,  inasmuch  as  He,  without  delay,  assisted 
them  in  administering  to  it  by  making  both  for  Adam 
and  Eve  coats  of  skins  and  clothing  them.  Another  in- 
ference from  the  narrative  in  question  is,  that  but  for  the 
disobedience  of  our  original  parents,  no  one  of  the  human 
family  would  ever  have  become  so  assimilated  to  God  as 
to  know  good  from  evil.  The  further  inference  is  that 
man,  by  his  first  breach  of  Divine  law,  learned  that  the 
true  enjoyment  of  life  and  existence  consisted  in  acting 
in  conformity  to  the  law,  which  is  equivalent  to  the  par- 
taking of  the  tree  of  life. 

Now  admitting,  for  the  argument,  that  these  Bible  nar- 
ratives are  other  than  fables,  it  follows  that  but  for  origi- 
nal sin  we  should  have  been  without  modesty,  without 
any  knowledge  of  the  difference  between  good  and  evil, 
without  any  assimilation  to  God,  and  without  knowledge 
of  the  way  which  leads  to  life  eternal ;  in  short,  on  a  level 
with  the  brute  creation. 

Now,  if  all  these  consequences  of  original  sin  were  to  be 
abolished  according  to  the  Church  version  of  the  subject, 
by  resurrection  through  Christ,  would  we  be  the  gainers 
by  such  restoration  to  the  original  ignorance  and  absence 
of  shame  of  nudeness  imputed  to  our  first  parents  before 
they  had  eaten  the  forbidden  fruit  ? 

It  has  been  remarked  that  Jesus  was  persuaded,  during 
the  latter  portion  of  his  ministry,  that  he  was  sent  to  be 
"  The  King  of  the  Jews,"  and  to  preach  a  purer  doctrine 
to  the  people  than  that  which  was  taught  through  means 
of  the  Jewish  priesthood.  He  was  also  surrounded  by 
those  who  favoured  these  ideas,  and  who  were  constantly 
urging  his  claims  to  such  a  position  and  to  such  an  office. 


276         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

When  they  had  succeeded  in  convincing  themselves  on 
this  point,  they  were  naturally  desirous  to  bring  others 
to  the  same  conclusion.  And  there  can  be  no  doubt  but 
that  he  also  caught  the  spirit,  and  lent  his  voice  to  the 
cry,  "  Believe  and  be  baptised  !  "  This  cry,  from  habit, 
and  from  the  consciousness  that  the  doctrine  which  he 
preached  led  to  life  and  happiness  here  and  hereafter, 
was  constantly  in  his  mouth.  In  this  way  he  was  gradu- 
ally led  to  associate  himself  with  it.  "Ye  believe  in 
God,"  said  he,  "  believe  also  in  me"  (John  xiv.,  i).  But 
that  it  was  nothing  more  than  the  doctrine  which  he  pro- 
claimed as  the  way  to  eternal  life  and  in  which  he  solicited 
belief,  we  infer  from  the  recprd  of  John  the  Evangelist, 
who  speaks  of  him  in  these  words :  "  The  same  came  for  a 
witness,  to  bear  witness  of  the  Light,  that  all  men  through 
him  might  believe  "  (John  i.,  7).  When  this  plain  lan- 
guage is  considered  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  he 
denied  that  he  was  God  or  co-equal  with  God,  it  fully 
warrants  the  view  of  his  office  and  religious  sentiments 
which  is  taken  in  this  work. 

Now,  the  interpretation  which  the  Churches  put  upon 
belief  in  Jesus  and  the  one  here  adopted  cannot  be  re- 
ceived together.  So  great  is  the  difference  between  them 
that  they  are  totally  inconsistent  with  each  other.  Jesus 
either  meant  that  eternal  life  would  result  from  belief  in 
his  doctrine  of  love  to  God,  and  good  works,  or  he  meant 
that  belief  in  his  being  co-equal  with  God  insured  eternal 
life.  If  he  meant  that  the  latter  must  be  added  to  a  life 
of  good  works,  it  is  inconceivable  why  he  did  not  make 
such  a  declaration  in  plain  and  unmistakable  terms,  which 
he  never  did,  at  least  there  is  no  such  record  in  the  Bible. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  did  declare  repeatedly  and  expli- 
citly, in  the  plainest  words  and  in  the  most  impressive 
manner  possible,  that  the  sum  total  of  the  requirements 
for  the  inheritance  of  eternal  life  is  love  to  the  One  God, 
love  to  man,  and  good  works.  Such  a  belief  as  this. 


Belief  in  Jesus  277 

when  taken  in  the  sense  here  advocated,  shows  "  the 
Religion  of  Jesus  "  to  coincide  and  harmonise  with  the 
religion  of  the  heart,  the  conscience,  and  the  common 
sense  of  all  mankind.  In  short,  it  is  in  unison  with  the 
religion  of  nature  and  of  the  God  of  nature,  and  shares 
this  marked  feature  with  the  actuating  principle  that  un- 
derlies the  religion  of  every  people  on  the  face  of  the 
globe,  however  debased  by  the  infusion  of  absurd  dogmas 
and  the  practice  of  repulsive  rites. 

The  Church  mode  of  interpreting  the  words  of  Jesus 
makes  our  eternal  happiness  depend  on  our  ability  to 
believe  certain  obscure  passages  of  the  Bible,  contain- 
ing accounts  of  what  one  person  says  in  relation  to 
another ! 

If  belief  comes  at  all,  it  must,  of  necessity,  be  involun- 
tary. No  man  can  have  a  real,  honest  faith,  of  the  kind 
just  mentioned,  except  through  intuition,  or  upon  evid- 
ence that  is  irresistibly  convincing.  Belief,  therefore, 
not  being  a  matter  of  free  agency,  there  can  be  no  merit 
in  its  adoption ;  whereas,  on  the  contrary,  good  works, 
which  a  man  may  or  may  not  do,  constitute  the  only 
acceptable  mode  of  manifesting  love  to  God. 

Man's  moral  accountability  to  God  for  his  conduct  here 
can  have  reference  only  to  those  actions  over  which  man 
himself  has  any  control,  that  is  to  say,  those  which,  by 
virtue  of  his  free  agency,  he  may  do  or  leave  undone  at  his 
own  will  and  pleasure.  Belief  in  Jesus  as  a  God  and  a 
Redeemer,  which  the  system  of  Christianity  demands  as 
indispensable  to  salvation,  is  not  among  the  actions  that 
man  can  control  at  will ;  neither  is  it  among  the  convic- 
tions that  come  to  us  spontaneously,  or  by  the  inevitable 
consequences  of  nature's  universal  teaching.  It  is  not 
like  the  assurance  that  there  is  an  overruling  Intelligence, 
to  whose  laws  we  are  each  and  all  accountable.  Hence 
the  belief  in  question,  if  binding  on  us  at  all,  must  of 
necessity  be  founded  upon  evidence,  the  sufficiency  or 


278          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

insufficiency  of  which  it  is  in  the  capacity  of  the  reasoning 
faculties  to  scan,  weigh,  and  determine. 

Again  :  "  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting 
life ;  and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life  : 
but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him  "  (John  iii.,  36). 
This  suggests  the  inquiry,  what  does  believing  on  the  Son 
mean  ?  Is  it  that  his  teaching,  or  that  believing  on  him 
personally  as  the  Son,  leads  to  everlasting  life  ?  If  we 
may  rely  upon  the  explanation  from  Jesus'  own  mouth,  to 
believe  in  him  was  to  believe  in  his  teaching,  and  his 
teaching  is  not  his  own  but  God's.  He  said  rjimself, 
(John  vii.,  16),  "  My  doctrine  is  not  mine  but  his  that 
sent  me."  In  his  solitary  prayer,  also  recorded  by  St. 
John  in  the  I7th  chapter  of  his  Gospel,  Jesus  says  in  the 
6th  verse  :  "  I  have  manifested  thy  name  unto  the  men 
which  thou  gavest  me  out  of  the  world  and  they  have 
kept  thy  word  "  ;  in  the  8th  verse,  "  For  I  have  given 
unto  them  the  words  which  thou  gavest  me  "  ;  and  again, 
in  the  I4th  verse,  "  I  have  given  them  thy  word."  Thus 
it  is  clear,  on  his  own  testimony,  that  it  was  God's  doc- 
trine that  Jesus  taught.  What,  also,  said  Paul,  narrating 
to  Agrippa  his  own  course  after  his  own  conversion  ? 
"  Whereupon,  O  King  Agrippa,  I  was  not  disobedient 
unto  the  heavenly  vision,  but  shewed  first  unto  them  of 
Damascus,  and  at  Jerusalem,  and  throughout  all  the  coasts 
of  Judea,  and  then  to  the  Gentiles,  that  they  should 
repent  and  turn  to  God,  and  do  works  meet  for  repent- 
ance." This  is  Paul's  view  of  the  obligations  of  Christian- 
ity, in  the  way  of  teaching,  even  though  the  vision  that 
set  him  to  work  was  in  the  form  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
Paul  also,  in  the  midst  of  Mars'  Hill,  at  Athens,  pro- 
claimed (Acts  xvii.,  24,  27,  28)  the  "  unknown "  God 
whom  the  Greeks  ignorantly  worshipped  as  "  the  God 
that  made  the  world  and  all  things  therein."  He  added, 
furthermore,  the  remarkable  declaration  that  the  Lord  is 
not  far  from  every  one  of  us  :  "  For  in  him  we  live,  and 


Jesus  as  a  Teacher  279 

move,  and  have  our  being  ;  as  certain  also  of  your  own  poets 
have  said,  For  we  are  also  his  offspring."  Herein  we  de- 
tect the  recognition  of  that  great  first  principle  of  all 
religion  which  is  implanted  in  us  by  God  Himself,  and  a 
contradiction  of  the  human  dogma  that  consigns  all  men 
to  perdition  outside  of  a  chosen  few  of  the  elect. 

Just  in  proportion  as  a  man  teaches  and  practises  the 
laws  pertaining  to  his  existence,  in  more  or  less  purity, 
the  more  or  less  conspicuously  does  God  appear  in  him. 
Now  if  any  preacher  of  the  present  day  were  to  commence 
teaching  the  truths  relating  to  man's  well-being  here  and 
to  his  happiness  hereafter,  unencumbered  with  Church 
dogmas,  as  were  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  his  hearers  would 
know  at  once  that  his  doctrine  came  from  God.  Their 
minds  and  consciences  would  both  bear  witness  to  it ;  and 
it  would  seem  to  those  who  first  heard  it  like  a  miracle 
because  of  its  novelty.  That  a  religious  teacher  of  our 
day  should  inculcate  love  to  God  manifested  by  acts  of 
kindness,  one  towards  another,  as  the  total  requisite  for 
man's  highest  enjoyment,  would  seem  almost  incredible- 
And  yet  such  was  the  teaching  of  Jesus  both  by  precept 
and  example.  It  was  his  every-day  vocation  pursued  with 
untiring  zeal  before  he  conceived  the  idea  that  he  was  the 
Messiah.  No  wonder  Nicodemus  expressed  himself  as 
he  did.  He  instantly  recognised  that  the  great  celebrity 
which  Jesus  had  obtained  grew  out  of  the  excellency  and 
purity  of  the  doctrines  which  he  taught ;  that  he  was  ad- 
mirably adapted  to  his  mission  of  promulgating  and  en- 
forcing unadulterated  truth ;  and  of  so  pointing  out  the 
way  that  leads  to  eternal  life,  as  to  justify  him  in  saying, 
"  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life." 

But  the  religion  which  Jesus  associated  with  belief  in 
himself  is  more  fully  illustrated  by  his  last  charge  to  his 
disciples,  when,  to  push  forward  the  good  work  which  he 
had  commenced,  he  sent  them  to  teach  all  nations,  to  take 
his  mantle  upon  them,  to  avail  themselves  of  his  renown 


280         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

as  a  teacher,  to  assume  his  office,  and  to  hand  down  to  all 
posterity  the  doctrines  with  which  his  name  and  fame 
were  identified.  He  charged  them  to  preach  repentance, 
which  is  the  turning  point  to  a  better  course — that  which 
works  an  aversion  to  sin  and  which  leads  to  a  higher  life. 
All  this  shows  that  he  believed  in  himself  as  a  teacher  of 
God's  laws  in  relation  to  man.  His  course  and  teaching 
evince  that  his  genius  lay  particularly  in  that  line,  as  was 
the  case  also  with  Zoroaster,  Mohammed,  Buddha,  Con- 
fucius, and  other  celebrated  founders  of  religious  systems 
and  expounders  of  morals.  In  him,  as  in  the  above-men- 
tioned persons,  that  peculiar  faculty  was  most  extraordin- 
arily developed.  He  had  a  happy  facility  in  laying  bare 
divine  truths,  and  disentangling  them  of  the  bewildering 
mazes  into  which  designing  men  had  woven  them  for 
base  purposes. 

Such  we  believe  to  have  been  the  character  of  Jesus  ; 
and  we  believe,  also,  that  his  endowments,  like  those  of 
the  persons  cited  above,  although  extraordinary,  were 
natural  and  not  supernatural.  In  virtue  of  such  qualit- 
ies he  became  obnoxious  to  the  grasping  priesthood  of 
the  day,  whom  he  never  spared  and  by  whom  he  was  re- 
lentlessly pursued,  dragged  before  the  tribunal,  speciously 
accused,  and  finally  murdered. 

But  if  Jesus  conceived  that  belief  in  him  signified  that 
which  his  followers  claimed  for  him,  and  that  he  was  God 
as  they  claimed,  we  cannot  comprehend  how  it  was  that  he 
did  not  make  the  subject  so  plain  and  unmistakable  that 
all  mankind  would  have  had  their  duty  placed  squarely 
before  them.  Neither  can  we  understand  why  their  eter- 
nal doom,  for  not  exercising  such  a  belief  in  him,  was  not 
so  emphatically  taught  them  by  natural  intuition,  or  other 
evidence,  that  they  could  not  have  misunderstood  him. 
How  far  this  is  from  the  fact,  is  indicated  by  the  number 
of  sects  into  which  Christianity  is  split. 

And  yet  those  who  profess  to  be  his  disciples  teach 


No  Good  Results  from  this  Belief     281 

that  if  men  do  not  blindly  believe  just  what  they  pro- 
pound for  them  to  believe,  they  are,  for  their  contumacy, 
to  be  condemned  to  everlasting  punishment,  and  this  too, 
as  before  shown,  in  the  face  of  an  imperative  law  of 
nature  which  makes  either  intuition,  or  other  evidence, 
indispensable  to  belief.  We  persist  that  the  individ- 
ual mind  of  the  person  to  whom  belief  in  anything  is 
propounded  must  be  the  final  and  sole  arbiter.  There- 
fore every  real — not  blind — belief,  in  relation  to  Jesus,  is 
totally  involuntary,  and  beyond  man's  control,  and  con- 
sequently involves  neither  merit  nor  demerit. 

This  holds  good,  also,  in  relation  to  those  who  have 
never  had  any  such  dogma  presented  to  their  minds  ;  and 
is,  therefore,  not  among  the  things  for  which  God  holds 
them  accountable.  No  one  can  believe  a  proposition 
without  convincing  evidence  of  its  truth,  or  withhold  belief 
in  the  face  of  such  evidence.  Nor  can  any  man  compre- 
hend how  it  is  that  the  simple  fact  of  arriving  at  a  state 
of  mind  called  belief  in  the  Divinity  of  Jesus,  and  his  sacri- 
fice for  sin,  should  entitle  the  believer  to  everlasting  bliss, 
while  at  the  same  time  such  belief  offers  no  suggestion  of, 
or  stimulant  to,  good  works. 

Action  is  the  order  of  nature.  It  is,  therefore,  not 
alone  sufficient  that  man  should  have  a  proper  conviction 
of  his  duty — he  is  required  to  act  in  accordance  with  it 
as  well ;  but  Church  doctrine  says,  "  Whosoever  believeth 
on  me" — meaning  Jesus — " shall  inherit  eternal  life."  And 
this  is  repeated  again  and  again,  without  addition,  sub- 
traction, or  qualification. 

On  the  isolated  acceptance  of  this  question  of  belief 
hangs  everlasting  bliss  ;  on  the  converse,  everlasting  death, 
say  the  clergy.  We  hold  that  no  state  of  the  mind  can 
receive  countenance  from  God  which  is  not  productive  of 
an  active  life  of  good  works.  Jesus  taught  this,  and  it 
was  the  only  and  the  entire  requisite  which  he  made  for 
the  inheritance  of  eternal  life. 


282          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

How  can  an  impression  or  a  conviction  that  there  are 
two  Gods,  or  three  Gods,  in  place  of  one  God,  be  of  any 
effect  in  inciting  men  to  the  performance  of  what  all 
recognise  as  duty — to  the  exercise,  for  instance,  of  charity, 
which  St.  Paul  himself  declares  to  be  greater  than  faith 
or  hope  ?  Is  there  any  specific  or  magnified  virtue  in  a 
subdivided  Godhead  ?  Does  it  tend  to  clear  up  any  of 
the  mystery  in  which  the  Supreme  Being  has,  for  the 
present,  been  pleased  to  enwrap  Himself  from  our  know- 
ledge, or  to  enhance  our  ideas  of  His  wisdom  and  power, 
to  be  told  that  Divinity  is  triune  ?  Are  the  attributes  of 
the  Almighty  more  comprehensible  or  more  striking,  when 
they  are  parcelled  out  into  three  divisions ;  the  Father's 
portion  being  mainly  wrath,  the  Son's  portion  being 
mainly  mercy,  and  the  Holy  Ghost's  business  being 
mainly  that  of  a  medium  ?  We  think  they  are  not.  We 
can  understand  why  it  was,  in  pagan  mythology,  that 
Cerberus,  the  dog  who  kept  the  gates  of  hell,  was  repre- 
sented with  three  heads.  Thereby  it  might  be  supposed 
that  his  ability  to  bark  and  bite  was  tripled.  But  that 
entry  through  the  gates  of  heaven  should  also  be  guarded, 
as  it  were,  by  a  triplex  ideal — that  conveys  through  it  a 
sense  of  weakness  rather  than  of  strength — seems  to  us 
a  human  device  more  strange  and  more  unwarrantable. 
Yet  the  theologians  say  that  such  belief  is  indispensable 
to  salvation,  and  that  salvation  is  at  once  secured  by 
it.  This  involves  the  idea  that  a  transcendent  change 
takes  place  in  every  new  convert  from  a  belief  in  one 
God  to  a  belief  in  three  Gods  from  the  moment  of  imbib- 
ing the  new  notion  ;  and  this  is  the  turning-point,  accord- 
ing to  them,  between  everlasting  bliss  and  perpetual 
torment.  Carrying  out  this  view,  they  assume  a  position 
which  we  deem  inconsistent  with  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
himself,  who  is  claimed  as  the  basis  of  their  creed.  It 
is  that — however  barren  of  good  works  a  man's  life  and 
conduct  may  have  been,  or  however  vicious  he  may  have 


No  Good  Results  from  this  Belief     283 

been  up  to  the  last  hour  of  his  existence — at  this  latest 
moment  a  belief  in  Jesus  being  God  and  Redeemer  acts 
as  an  infallible  passport  to  heaven.  Now,  this  is  tanta- 
mount to  a  belief  that  entertaining  a  bare  idea  for  a  few 
moments  suffices  to  ensure  eternal  happiness,  in  despite 
of  a  life  of  sin,  while  a  life  of  well-doing,  without  the 
entertainment  of  this  idea,  is  counted  but  as  dross,  and 
cannot  save.  We  say,  on  the  contrary,  such  promptings 
of  the  human  heart  as  are  implanted  by  God,  though 
still  under  man's  free  control,  tend  exclusively  to  train 
him  to  good  works  as  between  man  and  man.  Shall  then 
the  merit  of  a  virtuous  and  useful  life  be  made  to  hinge 
upon  credence  in  a  certain  number  of  Gods?  Shall  what 
is  meritorious  to-day  be  damnable  to-morrow  and  vice 
versa  ?  It  is  indisputable  that  individuals  are  constantly 
shifting  from  one  side  of  this  question  to  the  other, 
which  involves,  according  to  Christian  theology,  that  the 
individual,  so  often  as  he  may  change,  becomes  instantly 
blessed  or  cursed,  a  saint  or  devil,  a  meet  personage  for 
heaven  or  for  hell.  And  here  it  may  be  said  in  passing 
that  we  agree  with  Jesus,  who  implies  that  heaven  and 
hell  are  in  men's  consciences,  and  as  applicable  to  this 
side  of  the  grave  as  to  the  other.  In  Matthew  xii.,  28, 
he  says:  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is  come  unto  you"; 
and  in  Luke  xvii.,  21,  he  speaks  more  strongly  still: 
"  Behold  the  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you."  If  this  be 
so,  and  if  the  difference  of  the  beliefs  in  question  works 
the  momentous  difference  that  theologians  maintain,  it  is 
past  comprehension  why  it  does  not  exhibit  itself  in  a 
way  not  to  be  mistaken  between  the  conduct  and  condi- 
tion of  those  espousing  the  two  sides  respectively.  Why 
is  the  visible  state  of  the  individual  the  same  when  he 
enjoys  heaven  by  virtue  of  belief  in  the  Trinity,  and 
when  he  is  transferred  thence  to  hell  as  a  consequence  of 
his  belief  in  the  one  God  Jehovah  only?  Again,  if  it  be 
suggested  that  Jesus'  mode  of  salvation,  which  is  by  good 


284         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

works,  and  the  Church's  mode,  which  is  by  faith  alone  in 
Jesus,  may  be  used  in  conjunction,  we  say  that  this 
betrays  a  suspicion  that  the  Church  may  be  wrong,  and 
consequently  that  both  may  be  wrong.  To  make  this 
appear  more  absurd,  let  us  place  them  once  more  one 
against  the  other.  Jesus  claims  that  on  his  mode  of 
salvation  hangs  all  the  law  and  the  prophets,  and  that 
it  is  the  only  and  all-sufficient  one.  The  Church  claims 
that  its  mode  of  salvation  is  the  only  one  given  under 
heaven  whereby  men  may  be  saved,  and  that  it  is 
consequently  all-sufficient.  Now,  two  all-sufficient  and 
only  modes  of  salvation  combined  are  superfluous  and 
ridiculous. 

It  has  been  observed  by  a  writer,  often  quoted,  and 
from  whom  much  is  borrowed  in  this  instance,  that  Jesus 
sought  in  every  way  to  establish  as  a  principle  that  his 
Apostles  were  as  himself  (Matthew  x.,  40,  42,  xxv.,  45  ; 
Mark  ix.,  40 ;  Luke  x.,  16  ;  John  xiii.,  20).  It  was  believed 
that  he  had  communicated  all  the  marvellous  virtues  to 
them  which  he  claimed  had  been  delegated  to  him. 

They  prophesied  and  cast  out  demons,  although  certain 
cases  were  beyond  their  power  (Matthew  xvii.,  18,  19). 
They  also  wrought  cures,  either  by  the  imposition  of 
hands,  or  by  the  anointing  with  oil  (Mark  vi.,  13;  James 
v.,  14) — one  of  the  fundamental  processes  of  Oriental 
medicine.  Lastly,  like  the  Psylli  of  old,  or  like  certain 
Bengalese  of  our  day,  they  could  handle  serpents  ;  and 
they  could  drink  deadly  potions  with  impunity  (Mark 
xvi.,  18  ;  Luke  x.,  19).  But,  whilst  with  the  lapse  of 
time  all  this  pretence  of  supernatural  power  becomes 
more  and  more  repugnant  to  our  perceptions  of  truth, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  it  was  generally  received  by  the 
primitive  Church,  that  it  held  an  important  place  in 
the  estimation  of  the  world  around,  and  that  without  it  the 
Christian  theology  would  never  have  existed.  Charlatans, 
as  generally  happens,  took  advantage  of  this  movement 


Working  of  Miracles  285 

of  popular  credulity.  Even  in  the  lifetime  of  Jesus, 
many,  without  being  his  disciples,  cast  out  demons  in  his 
name.  The  true  disciples  were  much  displeased  at  this, 
and  sought  to  prevent  them.  But  Jesus,  no  doubt,  saw 
that  it  was  better  policy  not  to  interfere  with  them 
(Mark  ix.,  38,  39  ;  Luke  ix.,  49,  50).  It  must  be  observed, 
moreover,  that  the  exercise  of  these  claimed  gifts  had 
to  some  degree  become  a  trade.  Carrying  the  logic  of 
absurdity  to  the  extreme,  certain  men  pretended  to  cast 
out  in  the  name  of  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  demons. 

They  assumed  that  this  sovereign  of  the  infernal  re- 
gions must  have  entire  authority  over  his  subordinates, 
and  that  in  acting  through  him  they  were  more  likely  to 
make  the  intruding  spirit  depart  (Matthew  xii.,  24,  28). 
Some  even  sought  to  buy  from  the  disciples  of  Jesus  the 
secret  of  the  miraculous  powers  which  had  been  confided 
to  them  (Acts  viii.,  18,  19).  This  shows  that  there  were 
those  of  that  day  who  esteemed  these  pretended  miracles 
as  but  ingenious  tricks,  which  might  be  performed  by 
any  one  who  was  instructed  in  the  mode  and  manner  of 
effecting  them. 

It  was  only  after  the  death  of  Jesus  that  particular 
Christian  churches  were  established  ;  and  they  were  con- 
stituted purely  and  simply  on  the  model  of  the  syna- 
gogue. Nor  did  they  draw  within  their  folds  all  those 
who  had  been  more  or  less  intimately  associated  with 
Jesus  in  person.  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  Lazarus,  Mary 
Magdalen,  and  Nicodemus  did  not,  it  seems,  become 
members  of  these  churches,  clinging  in  preference  to  the 
tender  and  respectful  recollections  which  they  had  in- 
dividually preserved  of  him. 

It  is  to  be  observed  also  that  there  is  no  trace  in  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  of  an  apparent  canonical  law  ever  so 
slightly  defined  by  him.  It  may  be  assumed,  on  the 
contrary,  that  the  idea  of  a  newly  written  code  and  arti- 
cles of  religious  faith  could  never  have  been  entertained 


286         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

by  him,  for  he  deemed  the  true  record  to  be  inscribed 
on  men's  hearts  and  already  transcribed  into  the  moral 
commandments  extant  in  the  Jewish  law.  Not  only  did 
he  not  write,  but  it  would  have  been  useless  and  adverse 
to  the  spirit  of  such  an  infant  sect  to  get  up  any  so-called 
sacred  books,  inasmuch  as  they  believed  themselves  to  be 
on  the  eve  of  the  great  final  catastrophe.  It  cannot  be 
too  often  repeated  that  when  Jesus  speaks  of  his  king- 
dom as  not  being  of  this  world  (John  xxviii.,  36)  he  means 
the  world  which  was  then  and  is  now  inhabited  by  the 
human  race,  and  that  his  world  to  come  is  the  one  de- 
scribed in  2  Peter  iii.,  13,  in  these  words:  ''Nevertheless, 
we,  according  to  his  promise,  look  for  a  new  heavens  and 
a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness."  The  first 
Christian  generation  lived  almost  entirely  upon  delusive 
expectations  and  dreams.  They  conceived  themselves 
on  the  eve  of  seeing  the  then  world  come  to  an  end  ;  they 
looked  for  a  new  one,  and  they  regarded  as  useless  every 
thing  which  only  served  to  prolong  the  then  state  of 
things  upon  that  earth  wherein  they  were  living.  Posses- 
sion of  property  was  interdicted  (Luke  xiv.,  33 ;  Acts  iv., 
32,  and  v.,  i,  n).  Although  several  of  these  disciples 
were  married,  there  was  to  be  no  more  marriage  on  be- 
coming a  member  of  the  sect  (Matthew  xix.,  10,  and  fol- 
lowing). The  celibate  was  greatly  preferred ;  even  in 
marriage,  continence  was  recommended  (Revelation  xiv., 
4).  At  one  time  the  Master  seems  to  approve  of  those 
who  should  mutilate  themselves,  in  prospect  of  the  com- 
ing kingdom  (Matthew  xix.,  12).  Cessation  from  gener- 
ating one's  kind  was  sometimes  considered  as  a  sign  and 
condition  of  fitness  for  the  impending  change  (Matthew 
xxii.,  30;  Luke  xxii.,  35).  The  rule  that  Jesus  sought  to 
institute  was  severe  in  the  extreme.  He  required  from 
his  associates  a  complete  detachment  from  the  ordinary 
participation  and  interest  in  worldly  matters,  in  absolute 
devotion  to  his  work  of  evangelising  the  world.  Jesus, 


Jesus'  Teaching  Impracticable        287 

during  the  latter  part  of  his  lifetime,  apparently  believed 
that  the  impossible  could  be  attempted  with  impunity. 
He  made  no  concession  to  necessity.  He  boldly  preached 
war  against  nature,  and  total  severance  from  ties  of  blood. 
"  Verily  I  say  unto  you,"  said  he,  "there  is  no  man  that 
hath  left  house  or  parents,  or  brethren,  or  wife,  or  child- 
ren, for  the  kingdom  of  God's  sake,  who  shall  not  receive 
manifold  more  in  this  present  time,  and  in  the  world  to 
come  life  everlasting."  The  kingdom  of  God  here  spoken 
of  is  the  kingdom  to  be  established  upon  earth ;  and  the 
world  to  come  is  like  the  present  one,  but  in  a  regener- 
ated state.  His  followers  were  not  to  carry  with  them 
either  money  or  provisions  for  the  way,  not  even  a  scrip 
or  change  of  raiment.  They  must  practise  absolute  pov- 
erty, living  on  alms  and  hospitality.  The  Father  would 
send  them  His  spirit  from  on  high,  which  would  become 
the  principle  of  all  their  acts,  the  director  of  their  thoughts, 
and  their  guide  through  the  world.  If  driven  from  any 
town  they  were  to  shake  the  dust  from  their  shoes,  de- 
claring always  the  proximity  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  that 
none  might  plead  ignorance.  "Ye  shall  not  have  gone 
over  the  cities  of  Israel,"  added  he,  "  till  the  Son  of  man 
be  come." 

In  his  severe  view  of  the  exigencies  of  religion,  Jesus 
went  so  far  as  to  abolish  all  natural  ties.  His  require- 
ments had  no  longer  any  rational  bounds.  Despising  the 
healthy  limits  of  man's  nature,  he  demanded  that  man 
should  exist  only  for  him,  that  man  should  love  him  alone. 
"If  any  man  come  to  me,"  said  he,  "and  hate  not  his 
father,  and  mother,  and  wife,  and  children,  and  brethren, 
and  sisters,  and  his  own  life  also,  he  cannot  be  my  dis- 
ciple "  (Luke  xiv.,  26) ;  "  So  likewise,  whoever  he  be  of 
you,  that  forsaketh  not  all  that  he  hath,  he  cannot  be  my 
disciple  "  (Luke  xiv.,  33). 

Such  was  the  substance  of  the  public  teachings  of  Jesus, 
after  he  imbibed  the  visionary  idea  of  his  perpetual  rule, 


288         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

either  in  the  then  world,  or  in  the  new  world,  which  he 
predicted  would  speedily  come.  And  all  this  was  de- 
manded by  him,  solely  for  the  sake  of  establishing  a  be- 
lief that  he  was  the  Messiah  predicted  by  the  ancient 
prophets  to  reign  over  the  Jews  perpetually  upon  the 
earth.  The  harsh  and  gloomy  feelings  of  distaste  for  the 
world,  and  of  excessive  self-abnegation,  which  Jesus  im- 
posed upon  himself  and  his  followers  in  his  later  days, 
withdrew  him  more  and  more  out  of  the  pale  of  humanity. 
It  is  certain  that  this  idea  of  Jesus,  if  only  on  account  of 
the  celibacy  and  poverty  it  imposed,  could  not  be  carried 
out  in  practice.  Common  sense  revolts  at  such  extra- 
vagances; to  demand  the  impossible  is  a  mark  of  weak- 
ness and  delusion. 

We  may  easily  imagine  that  to  Jesus,  at  this  period  of 
his  life,  everything  which  was  not  the  kingdom  of  God, 
according  to  his  idea  of  it,  had  absolutely  disappeared. 
He  was,  if  we  may  say  so,  totally  outside  of  nature ; 
family,  friendship,  country,  had  no  longer  any  meaning 
for  him.  "  Think  not,"  said  he,  "  that  I  am  come  to  send 
peace  on  earth :  I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword. 
I  am  come  to  set  a  man  at  variance  against  his  father,  and 
the  daughter  against  her  mother,  and  the  daughter-in-law 
against  her  mother-in-law.  And  a  man's  foes  shall  be  they 
of  his  own  household "  (Matthew  x.,  34,  36 ;  Luke  xii., 
51,53.  "  I  am  come  to  send  fire  on  the  earth ;  and  what 
will  I,  if  it  be  already  kindled  ?  "  (Luke  xii.,  49.)  "  They 
shall  put  you  out  of  the  synagogues,"  he  continued,  "  yea, 
the  time  cometh  that  whosoever  killeth  you,  will  think 
that  he  doeth  God  service  "  (John  xvi.,  2). 

Sometimes  one  would  have  said  that  his  reason  was 
disturbed.  He  suffered  great  mental  anguish  and  agita- 
tion (John  xii.,  27).  The  great  vision  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  which  he  fancied  he  was  to  establish,  glistening 
before  his  eyes,  bewildered  him.  His  disciples  at  times 
thought  him  mad  (Mark  iii.,  21,  and  following).  His 


Jesus'  Teaching  Impracticable        289 

enemies  declared  him  to  be  possessed  (Mark  iii.,  22  ; 
John  vii.,  20,  viii.,  48).  His  excessively  impassioned 
temperament  carried  him  incessantly  beyond  all  rational 
bounds.  At  this  later  period  he  disregarded  all  human 
systems  ;  and  his  work  not  addressing  itself  to  the  reason, 
that  which  he  most  imperiously  required  was  an  unques- 
tioning faith  —  faith  in  that  which  time  and  history  have 
demonstrated  to  have  been  visionary  (Matthew  viii.,  10, 
ix.,  2,  22,  28,  29,  xvii.,  19 ;  John  vi.,  29,  etc).  His  pre- 
vious gentleness  seemed  to  have  abandoned  him  ;  he  was 
sometimes  harsh  and  capricious  (Matthew  xvii.,  16 ; 
Mark  iii.,  15,  18  ;  Luke  viii.,  45,  ix.,  41).  His  disciples 
at  times  did  not  understand  him,  and  experienced  in  his 
presence  a  feeling  akin  to  fear  (Mark  iv.,  40;  v.,  15  ;  ix., 
31  ;  x.,  32).  Sometimes  his  displeasure  at  the  slightest 
opposition  led  him  to  commit  acts  as  inexplicable  and 
absurd  as  cursing  a  fig  tree  because  it  did  not  bear  fruit 
out  of  season  (Mark  xi.,  12,  14,  20). 

His  struggle  for  the  ideal  against  the  real  became  in- 
supportable. Contact  with  the  world  pained  and  revolted 
him.  Obstacles  irritated  him.  His  ideas  concerning  him- 
self, as  the  Son  of  God,  became  disturbed,  inconsistent, 
and  exaggerated.  The  fatal  law  which  condemns  all 
impracticable  ideas  to  decay,  as  soon  as  an  attempt  is 
made  to  put  them  into  operation,  applied  to  his.  But 
even  during  the  early  part  of  the  public  ministry  of  Jesus, 
and  while  his  mode  and  manner  of  portraying  the  doc- 
trines enjoined  on  man  by  natural  religion  was  in  many 
respects  unsurpassed,  there  was  in  his  teachings  a  want 
of  consistency,  an  absence  of  that  harmony  which  is  con- 
spicuous in  all  things  which  are  unmistakably  of  God. 
For  while  Jesus  —  the  God-Man,  as  the  Church  has  it  — 
failed  to  act  perfectly  his  part  as  a  man,  he  still  more 
signally  failed  to  duly  represent  God,  who,  according  to 
Bible  record,  says,  "  I  am  the  Lord,  I  change  not  "  ;  and  of 
whom  Balaam  says :  "  God  is  not  a  man,  that  he  should 


290         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

lie."  The  Scriptures  do  not  bear  out  this  claim  to  un- 
changeableness  and  infallibility  in  relation  to  Jesus. 
Several  phases  of  character  or  functions  were  assumed 
at  different  times  by  Jesus,  during  the  few  years  of  his 
public  ministry.  Each  of  these  offices  or  missions  was 
totally  inconsistent  with  the  others,  as  we  shall  show. 

Jesus  claimed  in  the  first  place,  that  his  mission  was  to 
lead  or  point  all  men  by  his  teaching  to  everlasting  happi- 
ness beyond  the  grave ;  in  the  second  place,  he  claimed 
to  be  the  Messiah  appointed  by  God  to  rule  mankind 
upon  this  earth,  whereon  all  men  were  to  live  for  ever ; 
thirdly,  he  claimed  to  be  destined  to  rule  everlastingly, 
in  person  and  in  the  flesh,  over  the  whole  human  race, 
all  of  whom  were  to  be  righteous  and  happy,  upon  a  new 
earth,  to  be  substituted  for  the  present  one,  which  was 
to  be  destroyed  by  fire.  Now  Jesus'  first  claim,  that  his 
teaching  pointed  to  everlasting  happiness  beyond  the 
grave,  is  inconsistent  with  his  second  claim,  which  in- 
volved that  no  man,  after  the  kingdom  of  God  was 
established  under  him,  was  to  die  or  pass  the  grave. 
His  third  assumption,  which  involved  the  destruction 
of  our  present  earth,  and  a  continued  existence  on  this 
side  of  the  grave,  is  alike  inconsistent  with  his  first 
assumptions,  inasmuch  as  teaching  the  way  to  happiness 
beyond  the  grave  to  a  people  who  were  never  to  pass  the 
grave  would  be  out  of  place ;  and  also  inasmuch  as  he 
could  not  possibly  rule  as  the  Messiah  contemplated,  on 
this  earth,  since  the  earth  was  doomed  to  destruction. 
Now  it  is  plain  that  any  one  of  these  positions  being 
accepted  as  true,  stamps  the  others  as  false.  God  cannot 
be  false  to  Himself ;  He  cannot  be  one  manner  of  Being 
to-day  and  another  to-morrow.  As  regards  their  fitness 
to  the  ordinary  duties  and  relations  of  life  and  society, 
it  may  be  noticed  further  that  many  of  the  doctrines  of 
Jesus  are  irrational  and  altogether  impracticable. 

God,  according  to  Moses  and  the  Church,  tells  us  on  the 


Jesus'  Code  Visionary  291 

authority  of  Paul's  Epistle  to  Timothy  that  "  all  Script- 
ure is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,"  and  that,  conse- 
quently, we  must  have  faith  in  Moses'  announcements. 
God,  we  say,  put  man  into  Paradise  "  to  dress  and  keep  " 
the  garden  of  Eden ;  and  this,  be  it  observed,  before  man 
had  been  doomed  to  labour  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow.  But 
Jesus,  after  this  so-called  curse  had  been  affixed  upon 
humanity,  inculcated  a  manner  of  living  entirely  at  vari- 
ance with  its  existence.  Men  were  to  take  no  thought  — 
not  undue  thought,  but  no  thought  whatever  —  as  to  their 
means  of  subsistence.  If  smitten  on  one  cheek,  they 
were  to  turn  the  other  cheek  to  the  smiter.  If  robbed  of 
their  coats,  they  were  to  give  up  their  cloaks  also.  Never 
gaining  or  acquiring,  they  were  to  give  and  lend  without 
stint.  They  were  not  to  pay  even  funeral  rites  to  the 
dead,  in  the  urgency  of  their  haste  to  follow  after  Jesus. 
They  were,  for  the  same  end,  to  give  up  their  natural 
affections  toward  father,  mother,  wife,  and  child,  im- 
planted in  man  from  the  first,  and  shared  in  part  by  the 
very  beasts  of  the  field.  As  to  occupations,  livelihood, 
trade,  industry,  art,  science,  learning,  the  embellishments 
of  life,  and  the  duties  of  man  as  a  citizen  —  all  these  mat- 
ters are  entirely  ignored,  or  are  dismissed  contemptuously 
as  not  worth  thought  or  care. 

How  full  of  misery  the  world  would  have  become,  if 
these  injunctions  had  been  obeyed,  how  starving  and 
utterly  forlorn,  it  is  needless  to  point  out.  But,  without 
dwelling  upon  the  visionary  tendencies  of  Jesus'  code  in 
general,  it  cannot  be  inappropriate  to  remark  how  slightly 
in  these  respects  it  has  bound  its  followers.  The  name  of 
Jesus  is  for  ever  in  their  mouths  ;  but  they  have  wandered, 
it  must  be  owned,  very  far  from  his  teachings.  If  he 
varied  thrice  in  his  own  promulgated  views  as  to  his  mis- 
sion and  purposes,  they  by  way  of  a  fourth  variation 
have  saddled  him  with  the  dogma  of  spiritual  salvation 
through  sacrifice  of  himself.  If  he  preached  poverty  and 


292          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

self-abnegation,  their  Church  has  sought  power  and  ac- 
cumulated wealth,  while  they  as  individuals  have  entered 
with  full  ardour  and  much  success  upon  the  multifarious 
pursuits  of  man. 

Having  thus  shown,  as  we  conceive,  that  Jesus — whom 
the  Church  adores  as  perfect  God  and  perfect  Man  —  was 
neither  a  worthy  representative  of  God's  majestic  attri- 
butes, nor  a  fitting  type  of  man  under  the  various  rela- 
tions of  life  and  under  the  nature  which  God  has  stamped 
upon  him,  we  ask  what  the  conclusion  must  be.  Who 
shall  say  that  God's  representation  of  Himself  through- 
out the  entire  universe,  and  His  impress  upon  broad 
humanity,  are  not  the  true  ones  under  which  to  live 
and  die? 

It  is  probable  that  the  reported  raising  of  Lazarus  from 
death  contributed  sensibly  to  hasten  the  death  of  Jesus, 
as  is  shown  in  the  latter  part  of  the  nth  chapter  of 
John's  Gospel.  The  disciples  related  the  fact,  with  de- 
tails as  to  its  performance,  prepared  in  expectation  of 
controversy. 

The  other  miracles  of  Jesus  were  transitory  acts,  spon- 
taneously accepted  by  faith,  and  exaggerated  by  popular 
fame,  and  were  not  often  referred  to  after  they  had  once 
taken  place.  This  raising  of  Lazarus  was  an  event  held 
to  be  publicly  notorious,  and  by  which  it  was  hoped  to 
silence  the  Pharisees.  The  enemies  of  Jesus  were  much 
irritated  at  all  this  fame;  and,  therefore,  a  council  of  the 
chief  priests  was  assembled,  and  in  that  council  the  ques- 
tion was  clearly  put:  "  Can  Jesus  and  Judaism  exist 
together?"  To  raise  the  question  was  to  resolve  it ;  the 
high  priest  could  easily  pronounce  his  cruel  axiom :  "  It  is 
expedient  that  one  man  should  die  for  the  people."  The 
priests  saw,  in  the  excitement  created  by  Jesus,  the  prob- 
able overturning  of  the  Temple,  the  source  of  their  riches 
and  honours  (John  xi.,  48).  In  a  general  sense,  Jesus,  if 
he  had  succeeded  in  all  he  proposed,  would  have  really 


The  Arrest  of  Jesus  293 

effected  the  ruin  of  the  Jewish  nation.  Hence  the  men 
of  order,  persuaded  that  it  was  essential  for  humanity  that 
the  existing  belief  should  not  be  disturbed,  felt  themselves 
bound  to  prevent  the  new  spirit  from  extending  itself. 
But  never  was  seen  a  more  striking  example  of  how  much 
such  a  course  of  procedure  defeats  its  own  object.  Left 
free,  Jesus  would  have  exhausted  himself  in  a  desperate 
struggle  with  the  impossible.  The  unintelligent  hate  of 
his  enemies,  resulting  in  his  persecution  and  death,  con- 
tributed to,  or  was  in  reality  an  incident  without  which 
he  never  would  have  obtained  the  notoriety  that  has  per- 
tained in  relation  to  him.  The  death  of  Jesus  being  re- 
solved upon  (Matt,  xxvi.,  15;  Mark  xvi.,  I,  2;  Luke 
xxii.,  i,  2),  to  escape  from  arrest  he  withdrew  to  an 
obscure  town  called  Ephraim,  or  Ephron,  in  the  direction 
of  Bethel,  a  short  day's  journey  from  Jerusalem  (John 
xi.,  54).  It  seems  that  about  this  time  the  apprehensions 
of  Jesus  that  his  life  was  in  jeopardy  took  hold  of  his  dis- 
ciples. All  felt  that  a  very  serious  danger  threatened  the 
Master,  and  that  they  were  approaching  a  crisis.  At  one 
time  Jesus  thought  of  precautions,  and  spoke  of  swords. 
There  were  two  in  the  company.  "  It  is  enough,"  said 
he  (Luke  xxii.,  36,  38).  He  did  not,  however,  follow  out 
this  idea,  seeing  clearly  that  timid  provincials  would 
not  stand  before  the  armed  force  of  the  great  powers  of 
Jerusalem.  There  was,  however,  some  show  of  resistance 
on  the  part  of  the  disciples  on  the  occasion  of  the  arrest 
of  Jesus.  One  of  them — Peter,  according  to  an  eye-wit- 
ness (John  xviii.,  10) — drew  his  sword  and  cut  off  the  ear 
of  one  of  the  servants  of  the  high  priest,  named  Malchus. 
Jesus  restrained  this  opposition,  seeing  the  impossibility 
of  effectual  resistance,  especially  against  authorities  who 
had  so  much  prestige  ;  and  he  was  accordingly  captured. 
It  thus  appears  that  instead  of  Jesus  having  volunteered 
to  become  a  sacrifice  for  sin,  according  to  the  Christian 
theology,  he  avoided  being  arrested  and  crucified,  to  the 


294         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

extent  of  his  ability.  Jesus'  seeming  anticipations  of  his 
violent  death,  whether  by  crucifixion  or  otherwise,  may 
well  have  been  the  result  of  his  having  laid  claim  to  the 
Messiahship,  and  not  the  result  of  any  supernatural  fore- 
knowledge, or  of  any  voluntary  offering  of  himself  as  a 
ransom  for  the  sins  of  the  world.  He  was  aware,  from 
current  events,  that  whoever  set  up  a  claim  to  the  Mes- 
siahship put  his  life  in  jeopardy  ;  and,  being  an  enthusiast 
in  common  with  others  of  his  time,  he  did  not  hesitate 
so  to  risk  it.  Thus  he  might  naturally  predict  that  it 
would  be  the  forfeit  of  his  course ;  and  this  is  the  more 
likely,  inasmuch  as  John  was  put  to  death  by  Herod  for 
having,  as  is  vaguely  suggested  by  Josephus,  entered  into 
the  politics  of  the  times.  This  view  is  further  corrobor- 
ated by  the  frequent  allusions  of  the  Evangelists  to 
Jesus'  reasons  for  moving  from  place  to  place.  Occasion- 
ally the  cause  assigned  is  a  trivial  one,  such  as  the  incon- 
venient pressure  of  the  multitude  upon  him.  Sometimes, 
also,  the  movement  is  recorded  as  a  simple  matter  of  fact. 
But,  until  longer  escape  was  impossible,  the  mention  of 
any  danger  immediately  threatening  the  life  or  liberty 
of  Jesus  was  surely  followed  by  a  prudent  retreat.  John 
the  Baptist  was  beheaded ;  "  when  Jesus  heard  of  it  he 
departed  thence  by  ship  into  a  desert  place  apart "  (Mat- 
thew xiv.,  13).  The  priests  plotted  against  him  ;  "  after 
these  things  Jesus  walked  in  Galilee ;  for  he  would  not 
walk  in  Jewry,  because  the  Jews  sought  to  kill  him  " 
(John  vii.,  i).  They  took  up  stones  to  cast  at  him  ;  "  but 
Jesus  hid  himself,  and  went  out  of  the  temple,  going 
through  the  midst  of  them,  and  so  passed  by  "  (John  vii., 
59).  "  They  sought  again  to  take  him,"  says  St.  John  in 
his  loth  chapter,  verse  39;  and  he  adds,  "but  he  escaped 
out  of  their  hands." 

Now,  although  we  are  told  by  the  Church,  and  anathe- 
matised if  we  do  not  believe  it,  that  Jesus  volunteered  to 
die  upon  the  cross,  we  must  repeat  that  the  Bible  record 


His  Crucifixion  295 

proves  precisely  the  reverse.  If  his  zeal  sustained  and 
bore  him  onwards  until  drawn  within  the  fatal  circle  of 
events,  at  least  he  evaded  the  penalty  so  far  and  as  often 
as  he  could ;  while,  even  in  the  closing  scene,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  find  any  marks  of  superhuman  power.  Had  it 
been  possible  —  we  speak  on  his  own  authority  as  handed 
down  to  us  by  his  living  followers  —  he  would  have  had 
the  last  agony  spared  him.  In  immediate  anticipation  of 
a  cruel  death,  he  prayed  with  more  resignation  than  cour- 
age, "  Abba  Father,  all  things  are  possible  unto  thee  ;  take 
away  this  cup  from  me :  nevertheless,  not  what  I  will, 
but  what  thou  wilt "  (Mark  xiv.,  36).  On  the  cross  he 
uttered  the  words  —  inexplicable  if  we  put  faith  in  the 
Christian  theology  —  **  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou 
forsaken  me?  "  (Mark  xv.,  34).  It  is  strange  but  not  the 
less  true  that  many  martyrs  to  the  faith  of  Jesus  have 
shown  a  holier  faith,  and  a  more  enduring  resolution  than 
were  exhibited  by  their  Master,  the  Man-God  himself. 
And  as  there  was  nothing  supremely  heroic,  assuredly 
nothing  Divine  in  the  spirit  in  which  Jesus  encountered 
death,  nor  anything  uncommon  in  its  manner,  crucifixion 
being  an  ordinary  capital  punishment  in  those  days,  so  was 
there  nothing  unique  or  mysterious  in  its  apparent  cause. 

The  course  which  the  priests  had  resolved  to  take 
against  Jesus  was  quite  in  conformity  with  their  own 
established  laws.  The  plan  of  the  enemies  of  Jesus  was 
to  convict  him  by  the  testimony  of  witnesses  who  had 
been  suborned,  and  by  his  own  avowals,  of  blasphemy, 
and  of  outrage  against  the  Mosaic  religion,  to  condemn 
him  to  death  according  to  law,  and  then  to  get  the  con- 
demnation sanctioned  by  Pilate. 

On  the  trial  of  Jesus,  the  fatal  sentence  which  he  had 
really  uttered  :  "  I  am  able  to  destroy  the  temple  of  God 
and  to  build  it  in  three  days,"  was  cited  by  two  wit- 
nesses. To  blaspheme  the  temple  of  God  was,  according 
to  the  Jewish  law,  to  blaspheme  God  Himself.  The 


296         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

sentence  was  predetermined,  and  they  only  sought  for 
pretexts.  Jesus  felt  this,  and  did  not  undertake  a  useless 
defence.  In  the  light  of  orthodox  Judaism,  he  was  truly 
a  blasphemer,  a  destroyer  of  the  established  worship  ;  and 
the  law  punished  such  a  criminal  with  death.  With  one 
voice,  therefore,  the  assembly  declared  him  guilty  of  a 
capital  crime ;  and  Pilate's  ratification  of  the  condemna- 
tion pronounced  by  the  Sanhedrim  was  obtained,  but  not 
without  some  reluctance  on  his  part.  In  his  eyes,  it  is 
tolerably  evident,  Jesus  was  an  inoffensive  dreamer.  But 
he  no  doubt  feared  that  too  much  indulgence  shown  to  a 
prisoner  to  whom  was  given  the  title  of  the  "  King  of 
the  Jews,"  and  who  claimed  to  be  the  Messiah,  might 
compromise  him.  He  could  scarcely  have  acted  otherwise 
than  he  did.  It  was  then  neither  Tiberius  nor  Pilate 
that  condemned  Jesus.  It  was  the  old  Jewish  party.  It 
was  the  Mosaic  Law.  Now  it  is  beyond  question  that 
Jesus  attacked  this  worship  and  aspired  to  destroy  it. 
The  Jews  expressed  this  to  Pilate  with  a  truthful  sim- 
plicity :  "  We  have  a  law,  and  by  our  law  he  ought  to 
die." 

The  fate  of  Jesus  was,  therefore,  the  natural  fate  of  a 
religious  reformer  in  a  cruel  age,  and  among  a  fanatical 
people.  And  it  made  a  very  slight,  a  scarcely  perceptible 
sensation.  In  this  it  resembled  his  life.  The  life  of 
Jesus  was  passed  entirely  in  the  restricted  world  in  which 
he  was  born.  During  his  life  he  was  never  heard  of  in 
Greek  or  Roman  countries.  His  name  appears  only  in 
profane  authors  of  a  hundred  years  later,  and  then  only 
in  an  indirect  manner,  as  in  Tacitus  and  Josephus  in  con- 
nection with  seditious  movements  provoked  by  his  doc- 
trine, or  persecutions  of  which  his  disciples  were  the 
object.  The  essential  work  of  Jesus  was  to  create  around 
him  a  circle  of  disciples  whom  he  inspired  with  boundless 
affection.  His  doctrine  was  so  little  dogmatic  that  he 
never  thought  of  writing  it  or  of  causing  it  to  be  written. 


The  Coming  Kingdom  297 

Men  did  not  become  his  disciples  by  believing  this  thing 
or  that  thing,  but  in  being  attached  to  his  person  and  in 
loving  him.  A  few  sentences  collected  from  memory  and 
especially  the  type  of  character  he  set  forth,  and  the 
impression  he  had  left,  were  what  remained  of  him. 
Jesus  was  not  a  founder  of  dogmas  or  a  maker  of  creeds. 
His  power  over  the  hearts  of  men  consisted  in  his  preach- 
ing the  religion  of  the  heart  and  conscience,  to  which 
Church  theologies  and  dogmas  have  since  been  added  and 
placed  in  the  foregound,  while  Jesus  crucified  is  the  burden 
of  pulpit  oratory  to  the  exclusion  of  God. 

If  any  one  thing  is  conclusively  established  in  the 
New  Testament,  it  is  that  Jesus  and  his  disciples  were 
possessed  with  the  idea  of  a  coming  kingdom  of  God, 
changing  the  whole  aspect  of  the  world  and  its  affairs. 
Their  ideas,  even  Jesus'  own  ideas  as  to  what  this  king- 
dom was  to  be  and  when  it  was  to  come,  varied  con- 
siderably at  various  periods ;  but  it  was  ever  present  to 
his  mind  and  theirs  in  some  shape,  and  its  proclamation 
was  reiterated  over  and  over  again.  The  Evangelists 
record  how  Jesus  announced  it  with  a  fulness  of  detail, 
and  a  splendour  of  phrase,  that  captivates  all  that  is  imagin- 
ative in  human  nature.  There  is  to  be  an  abomination 
of  desolation ;  and  the  sun  is  to  be  darkened,  and  the 
moon  is  to  give  her  light  no  longer,  and  the  stars  are  to 
fall  from  heaven ;  and  the  Son  of  man  is  to  come  seated 
on  the  clouds,  and  surrounded  by  angels  with  power  and 
great  glory,  and  the  Elect  are  to  be  gathered  together  at 
the  sound  of  a  trumpet ;  and  the  King  is  to  pass  judgment 
on  a  multitudinous  assemblage  from  every  corner  of  the 
earth,  calling  the  righteous  into  many  mansions  standing 
ready  for  them,  and  casting  the  wicked  out  into  everlast- 
ing fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels.  The 
Apostles  continue  to  foretell  this  coming  of  the  kingdom  ; 
but  warned  by  the  failure  of  their  Master's  prediction  as 
to  the  time  of  its  coming  are  more  reticent  as  to  particu- 


298          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

lars,  and  less  distinct  in  limiting  the  advent  to  the  life- 
time of  any  person  or  persons.  In  saying,  however,  that 
the  Apostles,  so  far  as  we  know,  were  neither  expansive 
nor  precise  in  dealing  with  this  theme,  we  naturally 
except  St.  John.  He  indeed,  in  his  magnificent  rhapsody 
that  bears  the  august  name  of  "  Revelation,"  may  be 
said  to  make  amends  for  their  shortcoming.  He  is 
strangely  precise,  especially  in  naming  three  years  and  a 
half  for  the  duration  of  the  world  as  it  was,  in  his  curious 
arithmetical  calculation  of  the  one  hundred  and  forty-four 
thousand  chosen  ones  of  the  house  of  Israel,  and  in  his 
sealing  up  Satan  in  the  bottomless  pit  for  an  exact  period 
of  one  thousand  years —  as  though  the  Almighty  took 
pleasure  in  round  numbers,  and  as  though  damnation 
through  all  eternity  was  not  a  prominent  feature  in  the 
perverted  creed  that  grew  out  of  Jesus'  doctrines.  On 
the  other  hand,  how  lofty  are  his  imaginings !  How 
marvellous  a  compound  of  the  grand  and  the  terrific ! 
How  they  pass  in  bewildering,  yet  fascinating,  succession 
before  us  —  the  seven  mystic  candlesticks,  and  the  sea  of 
glass,  and  the  beasts  full  of  eyes  before  and  behind,  and 
the  golden  vials  full  of  odours  which  are  the  prayers  of  the 
Saints,  and  Death  on  the  pale  horse,  and  the  locusts  like 
unto  horses  prepared  for  battle,  with  the  hair  of  women 
and  the  faces  of  men  and  the  tails  of  scorpions,  and  the 
great  red  dragon,  and  the  angels  pouring  out  the  vials  of 
God's  distilled  wrath,  and  the  great  city  with  its  walls  of 
jasper  and  gates  of  pearls  and  foundations  of  sapphire, 
chrysolite,  topaz,  and  all  kinds  of  jewels !  A  magnificent 
and  fantastic  poem  is  all  this,  we  may  well  allow ;  but  if 
asked  what  connection  it  has  with  the  practical  teaching 
of  Jesus,  who  condensed  religion  into  two  short  and 
simple  dogmas,  which  it  is  needless  to  repeat  here,  we 
should  be  compelled  to  turn  to  the  clergy  for  an  answer. 
They  would  tell  us  probably  that  "  all  Scripture  is  given 
by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for 


The  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  Soul     299 

reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in  righteousness  "  ; 
and  would  bemoan  our  inability  to  perceive  the  force  of 
this  remark  from  the  pen  of  a  man  who  is  placed  by 
theologians  in  the  position  of  a  writer  reviewing  his  own 
works.  They  might  point  out,  furthermore,  how  the 
scholarship  and  research  of  learned  commentators  had 
proved  that  certain  parts  of  the  apocalyptic  vision  elu- 
cidated and  tallied  with  certain  parts  of  the  prophetic 
visions  abounding  in  the  Old  Testament.  But  we  confess 
that  our  doubts  as  to  the  Divine  inspiration  or  intrinsic 
worth  of  this  Revelation  would  not  thereby  be  greatly 
diminished,  while  doubts  would  be  suggested  as  to  studied 
effort  on  the  part  of  St.  John  to  make  the  old  and  new 
correspond. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  also,  that  not  only  were  Jesus  and 
his  immediate  followers  mistaken  as  to  the  manner  in 
which,  and  the  exact  time  at  which,  this  promised  king- 
dom was  to  come  —  it  has  never  come  at  all,  though  it  is 
confidently  declared  from  pulpit  to  pulpit  that  not  one  jot 
or  tittle  of  Scripture  can  fail.  If,  therefore,  they  were 
all  mistaken  on  this  point,  is  it  not  equally  clear  that 
theologians  must  be  mistaken  in  declaring  Jesus  to  be 
the  Messiah?  This  precludes  the  idea  of  his  being  the 
Saviour.  Jesus  lived  upon  earth ;  so  much  we  know. 
But  he  certainly  never  sat  upon  the  throne  of  David  ; 
neither  did  he  burn  up  the  world  and  hold  its  gathered 
inhabitants  to  judgment. 

The  truth  is,  this  breaking  down,  this  crumbling  away 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  as  promised,  drives  us  back  to  a 
point  to  which  we  have  already  adverted  —  in  effect,  to 
the  kingdom  of  God  which  exists  within  every  human 
soul.  And  it  was  to  this  in  our  belief  that  Jesus  occa- 
sionally referred  in  his  earlier  discourses  before  his  sense 
of  man's  need  of  spiritual  affinity  with  his  Maker  had 
been  disturbed  and  then  thrown  into  the  background  by 
his  enlarged  and  yet  erroneous  ideas  concerning  his  own 


300        One    Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

proper  mission  —  concerning  his  temporal  rule  in  the  first 
place,  and  subsequently  his  new  heaven  and  new  earth. 
This,  at  least,  may  be  said  :  it  is  as  true  for  us  as  for 
Jesus'  actual  hearers,  that  this  inner  kingdom  is  already 
established  within  us,  nay,  is  part  of  our  very  nature, 
though  we  may  fail  to  comprehend  it.  It  is  for  us  to  look 
to  it  that  neither  tradition,  nor  superstition,  nor  an  indol- 
ent assent  to  prevailing  dogmas,  clogs  our  understand- 
ing in  this  matter.  It  is  for  us  to  determine  how  soon 
we  shall  free  ourselves  from  all  that  is  irrational,  and 
obscure,  and  fluctuating,  and  contradictory  in  theology. 
It  is  easy  for  us  at  any  moment,  and  without  aid  of  priest, 
or  temple,  or  code,  or  teaching,  to  recognise  as  all-sufficient 
that  first  and  only  true  religion  which  was  implanted  in 
man  before  any  creeds  were  concocted,  and  will  survive 
in  him  as,  one  after  another,  their  false  claims  to  Divine 
origin  are  exposed. 

Jesus  said  unto  his  disciples,  "  It  is  not  ye  that  speak, 
but  the  Spirit  of  your  Father  which  speaketh  in  you  " 
(Matthew  x.,  20). 

"  The  words  I  speak  unto  you,  I  speak  not  of  myself : 
but  the  Father  that  dwelleth  in  me,  he  doeth  the  works  " 
(John  xiv.,  10). 

"  For  I  have  not  spoken  of  myself,  but  the  Father  which 
sent  me,  he  gave  me  a  commandment  what  I  should  say 
and  what  I  should  speak  "  (John  xii.,  49). 

These  quotations  furnish  direct  evidence  that  Jesus 
places  himself  precisely  on  the  same  footing  with  his  dis- 
ciples, with  regard  to  God  being  both  their  Father 
and  his ;  consequently,  Jesus  and  his  disciples  were  alike 
the  sons  of  God.  And  when  he  says  that  both  he  and 
the  disciples  speak  not  of  themselves,  but  are  only  the 
monthpiece  and  instruments  of  God  to  speak  His  mind, 
it  follows  likewise  that  Jesus  and  the  disciples  stand  in 
the  same  relation  to  God  with  regard  to  those  traits  and 
functions  of  character  and  office  that  distinguish  each  in 


Jesus  and  the  Apostles  301 

common,  and  in  which  they  were  all  engaged.  This  will 
be  seen  to  be  the  case  more  especially  from  the  following 
texts,  which  describe  them  to  be  all  alike  equally  endowed 
by  God  to  work  miracles. 

Jesus  said  unto  his  disciples,  "  And  these  signs  shall 
follow  them  that  believe ;  in  my  name  shall  they  cast 
out  devils  ;  they  shall  speak  with  new  tongues.  They 
shall  take  up  serpents ;  and  if  they  drink  any  deadly 
thing,  it  shall  not  hurt  them  ;  they  shall  lay  hands  on 
the  sick,  and  they  shall  recover  "  (Mark  xvi.,  17,  18).  If  in 
answer  to  this  it  is  objected  that  the  difference  between 
the  ability  of  Jesus  and  that  of  his  disciples  to  heal  the 
sick  and  work  miracles  is  that  Jesus  and  not  God  gave 
power  to  the  latter,  the  objection  is  answered  by  Jesus 
himself,  in  the  following  terms  :  "  The  words  I  speak  unto 
you,  I  speak  not  of  myself :  but  the  Father  that  dwelleth 
in  me,  he  doeth  the  works"  (John  xiv.,  10). 

And  in  his  own  case,  does  he  not  acknowledge,  by 
thankfulness,  that  it  was  his  Father,  and  not  himself, 
who  raised  Lazarus  from  the  dead  ?  "  And  Jesus  lifted 
up  his  eyes  and  said,  Father,  I  thank  thee  that  thou  hast 
heard  me"  (John  xi.,  41)  —  which  shows  that  the  miracle, 
if  it  were  a  miracle,  was  worked  by  God,  and  not  by  Jesus. 
And  did  not  Martha,  one  of  those  who  knew  him  best, 
and  whom  he  is  said  to  have  loved  above  all  others,  both 
understand  and  express  her  understanding  of  the  matter 
by  saying  that  she  knew  that  whatsoever  he  were  to  ask 
of  God,  God  would  give  it  to  him  (John  xi.,  22)?  And 
does  not  Jesus'  silence  on  the  occasion  prove  equivalent, 
to  giving  assent  to  her  ideas  on  the  subject  ?  The  miracle, 
therefore,  if  wrought  at  all,  was  wrought  by  God  the 
Father  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  Jesus,  and  not  by  Jesus 
himself  in  his  own  strength.  This  much  we  grant  for  the 
strength  of  the  argument  against  the  Divinity  of  Jesus. 
The  presumption  is,  however,  that  no  such  miracle  was 
ever  wrought ;  but  that  the  whole  exhibition  was  gotten 


302          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

up  to  strengthen  belief  in  Jesus,  for  the  sake  of  furthering 
his  interests  in  relation  to  his  occupying  the  temporal 
throne  of  the  Jews. 

But  again,  we  have  shown  that  the  Apostles  were  equal 
to  Jesus  in  all  the  qualities  above  enumerated,  and 
equality  with  God  was  never  claimed  for  them  ;  how  is  it 
then  that  these  traits  in  the  character  of  Jesus  are  cited 
as  proofs  of  his  being  co-equal  with  God  the  Father? 
If  the  answer  is  that  Jesus,  on  his  own  and  also  on  the 
authority  of  the  Prophets,  claims  himself  to  have  been 
God,  have  we  not  shown  also  that  such  a  view  as  this 
has  been  falsified  by  Jesus  himself,  where  he  in  various 
places  denies  such  a  claim,  either  directly  or  by  fair  impli- 
cation ?  And  as  to  the  authority  of  the  Prophets  on  this 
subject,  is  not  that  set  aside  by  their  palpable  errors  in 
connecting  Jesus  with  the  expected  Messiah,  who  was  to 
be  the  temporal  ruler,  or  king  of  the  Jews,  which  he 
never  was  ?  Jesus  neither  claimed  nor  answered  to  the 
description  given  of  the  expected  Messiah,  in  the  sense 
put  upon  it  by  the  Church.  Nor  could  he  have  been, 
unless  he  was  co-equal  with  God,  which  again  and  again 
he  disclaims  to  have  been.  And  if  he  had  claimed  to  be 
co-equal  with  God,  he  says  himself,  "  If  I  bear  witness  of 
myself,  my  witness  is  not  true  "  (John  v.,  31). 

Peter  declares  :  "  Neither  is  there  salvation  in  any  other : 
for  there  is  none  other  name  under  heaven  given  among 
men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved  "  (Acts  iv.,  12). 

But  is  Peter  a  competent  witness  ?  As  regards  his 
veracity  and  good  character,  does  he  stand  sufficiently 
fair  before  men  to  be  accredited  ?  Is  his  testimony  of 
much  weight,  under  these  or  any  other  circumstances  ? 
Peter  made  a  false  assertion,  and  at  three  different  times 
repeated  it.  He  thrice  denied  that  he  had  any  know- 
ledge of  Jesus,  and  more  than  once  on  his  oath.  His 
conduct  was  also  highly  censurable  and  dishonest  in  the 
transaction  wherein  he  procured  (or  speciously  lent  him- 


God  the  Only  Saviour  303 

self  to  the  procuring  of)  very  unreasonable  sums  of  money 
from  his  converts,  by  exciting  in  them  the  fear  of  instant 
death,  for  their  non-compliance  with  his  most  exorbitant 
demands  for  the  support  of  himself  and  his  associates. 
(See  an  account  of  his  conduct  in  this  respect  in  another 
part  of  this  work.) 

Why,  the  unjustifiable  doings  of  Peter  so  incensed  even 
Jesus  himself  that  he  was  constrained  to  administer  to 
him  a  rebuke,  which  for  its  severity  exceeds  anything 
that  Jesus  ever  uttered  to  him  or  any  other  of  his  dis- 
ciples. "  But  he  turned  and  said  unto  Peter,  Get  thee 
behind  me,  Satan ;  thou  art  an  offence  unto  me ;  for  thou 
savourest  not  the  things  that  be  of  God,  but  those  that 
be  of  men  "  (Matthew  xvi.,  23). 

Now,  in  view  of  such  offences  as  these,  are  we  to  be 
asked  to  admit  his  testimony,  either  in  this  or  any  other 
case?  If  he  would  lie,  and  cheat,  and  perjure  himself, 
would  he  hesitate  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  advance  his 
own  interests  by  trying  to  persuade  others  to  believe  what 
he  did  not  believe  himself  ?  We  should  say,  he  would 
not.  He  may,  however,  and  probably  did,  have  reference 
to  Jesus  being  the  only  Saviour  of  the  Jews  from  physical 
bondage,  by  becoming  their  king.  If  he  did,  his  test- 
imony is  more  reasonable,  and  therefore  more  credible; 
although  he  was  mistaken.  This  is  not  the  view  which 
Christian  theologians  take  of  it.  They  make  it  to  mean 
salvation  from  everlasting  torment  beyond  the  grave,  for 
original  and  actual  sin.  Peter's  probable  view  of  the 
subject,  untrue  as  it  was,  is  more  excusable  than  that  of 
the  theologians,  and  especially  when  such  texts  as  the 
following  are  taken  into  consideration :  "  For  I  am  the 
Lord  thy  God,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  thy  Saviour  : 
I  gave  Egypt  for  thy  ransom,  Ethiopia  and  Seba  for 
thee  "  (Isaiah  xliii.,  3).  "  I,  even  I,  am  the  Lord ;  and 
beside  me  there  is  no  Saviour  "  (Isaiah  xliii.,  2).  "  Tell 
ye  and  bring  them  near ;  yea,  let  them  take  counsel 


304         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

together;  who  hath  declared  this  from  ancient  time? 
who  hath  told  it  from  that  time?  have  not  I  the  Lord? 
and  there  is  no  God  else  beside  me,  a  just  God  and  a 
Saviour;  there  is  none  beside  me"  (Isaiah  xlv.,  21). 
"  Thou  shalt  also  suck  the  milk  of  the  Gentiles,  and  shalt 
suck  the  breasts  of  kings;  and  thou  shalt  know  that  I 
the  Lord  am  thy  Saviour  and  thy  Redeemer,  the  mighty 
One  of  Jacob  "  (Isaiah  lx.,  16).  "  For  therefore  we  both 
labour  and  suffer  reproach,  because  we  trust  in  the  living 
God,  who  is  the  Saviour  of  all  men,  specially  of  those  that 
believe  "  (i  Timothy  iv.,  10). 

Can  any  one  attempt,  seriously,  to  maintain  the  infalli- 
bility of  the  Bible  and  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  with  such 
unmistakable  and  glaring  contradictions  as  these  before 
his  eyes?  And  these  are  but  the  thousandth  part  of 
similar  contradictions,  some  not  quite  perceivable  at  first 
glance,  but  equally  apparent  and  positive  on  a  critical 
examination. 

All  men,  by  internal  and  external  evidence,  combined 
and  coming  immediately  from  God,  are  brought  to  the 
conviction  that  there  is  an  overruling  Intelligence — an 
infinite  Mind — which  is  the  Author  and  Governor  of  all 
things  and  beings,  including  man.  Man  only,  however, 
it  is  believed,  has  an  innate  sense  of  right  and  wrong, 
and  of  his  accountability  to  God  for  the  proper  discharge 
of  his  duty.  This  law  of  his  being  is,  we  say,  universal. 
But,  if  we  go  further  and  say  that  religion  takes  in  any 
other  object  of  faith  than  the  one  supreme  and  good  God, 
we  are  at  fault.  No  such  innate  or  external  evidence  is 
furnished  to  the  entire  race  of  men  immediately  from 
God,  with  regard  to  the  so-called  supernatural  faculties  or 
functions  of  Jesus.  Nor  have  we  any  such  grounds  for 
believing  that  he  was  other  than  man.  God  alone — the 
one  God — has  the  sole  power  to  control  all  things,  and  is 
the  only  Giver  of  all  good  things.  God  alone,  therefore, 
is,  and  should  be,  the  only  object  of  man's  worship.  His 


Worship  of  Jesus  305 

bounties  come  to  man  directly,  as  they  do  to  the  lower 
animals,  and  not  by  mediation.  But  whether  or  not  these 
bounties  come  through  one  mode  or  another,  this  in  no 
way  affects  man's  obligations,  or  the  worship  due  from 
man  to  God.  Neither  does  multiplying  the  objects  of  his 
worship  increase  man's  disposition  to  manifest  grateful 
emotions,  or  to  perform  good  works.  And  this,  for  the  all- 
sufficient  reason  that  no  man,  not  excepting  those  who 
profess  to  understand  it  best — the  Church  dignitaries, — 
can  comprehend  such  an  anomaly  as  that  Jesus  can  be 
co-equal  with  God.  Is  not  God  infinite ;  and  does  He  not 
fill  the  Universe?  What  room  or  occasion  then  can  there 
be  for  another  infinite  Being? 

There  is  no  end  to  the  mystery  which  the  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity  involves.  It  adds  mystery  to  mystery. 
There  is  one  thing,  however,  in  relation  to  God  which  is 
indispensable  to  man's  welfare,  and  that  is,  that  he  should 
perceive  what  his  duty  is,  both  to  God  and  man.  This. 
God  has  made  sure  that  all  men  shall  know,  at  all  events 
to  the  extent  of  their  needs,  by  implanting  within  their 
very  nature  the  seeds  which  must,  sooner  or  later,  germ- 
inate and  bring  forth  their  legitimate  fruits  under  the 
influences  which  God  has  spread  around  them.  It  would 
be  infinitely  better,  in  our  estimation,  if  man  would  attend 
to  the  manifest  instructions  of  the  Almighty,  instead  of 
running  after  false  gods — as  do  those  who  direct  their 
worship  almost  exclusively  to  Jesus.  But,  admitting  that 
Jesus  was  sent  by  God  in  the  capacity  claimed  by  His 
worshippers,  why  should  religious  teachers  have  Jesus  on 
their  lips  continually,  instead  of  directing  their  attention 
to  the  Fountain  of  all  that  is  good  and  great,  who  is  en- 
titled, above  all  others,  to  man's  most  profound  devo- 
tion? If,  also, — as  is  unceasingly  preached, — God  did  so 
love  the  world  as  to  send  His  only  begotten  Son  to  die 
here  for  our  sins,  why  is  it  that  he  who  was  sent  is  so 
perseveringly  pressed  upon  the  attention  in  preference  to 


306          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Him  who  sent?  Is  the  messenger  more  worthy  than  the 
Lord,  through  whose  loving-kindness  the  messenger  was 
despatched  ? 

But  the  solution  is  easy.  The  sensibilities  of  the  tender- 
hearted and  unsuspecting  are  readily  worked  up  to  a  high 
tension  by  overwrought  and-  overdrawn  pictures  of  the 
death  scene  of  Jesus.  This  is  a  powerful  lever  in  the 
hands  of  the  clergy  wherewith  to  increase  the  number  of 
their  disciples,  and,  incidentally,  their  own  emoluments. 
For  the  same  reason  "  the  blessed  Virgin  "  and  the  infant 
Jesus  are  much  dwelt  upon,  to  touch  the  sympathies  of 
parents,  and  mothers,  and  women  generally,  whose  natural 
affections  yearn  toward  children.  God  has  so  constituted 
us  that  our  sympathetic  organs  and  corresponding  kindli- 
ness are  peculiarly  alive  in  behalf  of  a  mother  and  her 
helpless  offspring.  And  so  even  this  precious  trait  in 
human  nature  is  seized  upon  by  designing  priests,  and 
wrought  into  the  means  for  the  acquisition  of  wealth.  If 
it  be  not  so,  why  do  they  not  direct,  in  their  church  serv- 
ices, glorification  and  adoration  to  Jehovah,  the  Father 
and  instigator  of  all  good  emotions  and  deeds  ?  The 
Scriptures  tell  us  that  God,  the  Father,  is  the  Giver  of  all 
good  gifts,  and  that  He  is  the  Fountain  from  whence  all 
our  blessings  flow.  He,  therefore,  should  be  the  object 
of  our  constant  praise  and  adoration ;  nor  is  there  any 
lack  of  material  wherewith  to  portray  God  the  Father  in 
a  most  beautiful  and  attractive  aspect  without  resorting 
to  fictions.  The  most  insignificant  part  of  the  sober  truth 
that  pertains  to  God's  excellence,  rightly  arranged  and 
brought  to  view,  would  present  Him  in  a  light  so  glow- 
ing that  the  spiritual  eye  could  scarcely  withstand  its 
brightness.  And  if  this  be  so,  why  attempt  to  divert  the 
heart's  devotion  and  the  soul's  adoration  from  the  Source 
of  all  that  is  good  and  great  by  resorting  to  false  pre- 
tences? If  the  Church  has  a  single  eye  to  the  glory  of 
God,  and  the  good  of  men's  souls,  why  does  it  not  teach 


Ceremonies  307 

them  to  worship  God  rationally  and  consistently?  If  it 
should  be  said,  however,  that  there  certainly  is  great  bene- 
fit to  be  derived  from  leading  persons'  putting  their  faith  in 
religious  creeds,  even  at  the  expense  of  an  exaggeration 
or  perversion  of  the  truth,  the  further  question  then  pre- 
sents itself  as  to  whether  the  theologies  in  which  the 
clergy  solicit  belief  are  of  themselves  true  ? 

One  denomination  makes  eternal  life  conditional  on  the 
ceremony  of  baptism,  and  gives  the  authority  of  Jesus,  if 
not  his  command,  for  this  requirement.  Another  declares 
with  equal  confidence  that  he  (Jesus)  repudiates  all  cere- 
monies as  not  being  of  the  essence,  or  an  indispensable 
part,  of  religion.  Baptism  may  be  useful  in  its  way  — 
being  performed  before  witnesses,  it  stimulates  the  weak 
to  perseverance  in  their  resolves,  and  assists  them  to  hold 
on  to  their  profession  with  more  tenacity  than  they  other- 
wise might  do.  Any  other  act  performed  before  men 
with  equal  solemnity  would  answer  the  same  purpose. 
Water,  it  is  true,  is  a  fitting  emblem  of  purity,  but  the 
efficacy,  if  any  there  be  in  baptism,  consists  not  in  the 
virtue  of  water  being  connected  with  the  outward  acts; 
the  charm  or  spell  which  accompanies  it  is  the  fear  of 
men's  remarks  in  case  of  backsliding.  The  effect  is  ana- 
logous to  that  of  the  laying  on  of  hands  when  a  temperance 
pledge  is  given.  Baptism  was  coupled  with  belief  in 
Jesus ;  and  was  perseveringly  persisted  in  by  the  first 
Apostles  and  their  immediate  followers,  to  prevent  the 
backsliding  of  any  who  should  subscribe  to  the  preten- 
sions of  Jesus  to  the  Messiahship.  Incidentally,  also, 
it  swelled  the  number  of  his  followers,  and  thus  might 
prove  the  way  to  his  being  publicly  proclaimed  "  King  of 
the  Jews,"  and  to  their  enjoyment  of  the  worldly  honours, 
power,  and  emoluments  connected  with  his  ascent  to  the 
throne.  And  so  with  all  Church  forms  and  ceremonials 
that  have  at  different  times  been  practised.  They  are 
not  of  the  slightest  utility  so  far  as  the  right  appreciation 


3o8          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

and  practice  of  virtue  is  concerned — though  it  may  be 
that  ceremonies,  enacted  before  men's  eyes,  make  churches 
more  attractive,  and  draw  larger  and  more  imposing  con- 
gregations, serving  at  once  to  increase  the  power  and 
influence  of  the  Church,  and  at  the  same  time  to  fill  its 
coffers. 

If  the  Church's  theory  is  right  with  regard  to  God's 
mode  of  salvation,  no  man  can  possibly  comprehend 
God's  justice  therein  otherwise  than  by  His  placing  it 
within  the  range  of  each  and  every  man's  free  will  to  be- 
lieve or  not  to  believe  that  Jesus,  the  son  of  Mary,  is 
co-equal  with  God  and  the  only  Saviour  of  mankind,  which 
it  is  absurd  to  say,  He  has  done.  For  if  this  Church  doc- 
trine be  the  proper  view  of  the  subject,  God's  manifest 
and  overwhelming  goodness  demands  such  clear  and  un- 
mistakable evidence  on  the  side  of  truth  as  to  make  it  pal- 
pable to  all  men  that  each  and  all  of  them  could  believe 
if  they  would ;  and  that  to  neglect  or  omit  to  believe, 
from  any  cause  whatsoever  would  entail  upon  them  His 
eternal  displeasure  and  vengeance.  It  is  evident  to  all 
that  such  is  not  the  case,  but  that  the  reverse  of  this  is 
the  fact ;  because  the  most  overwhelming  majority  of 
mankind  never  heard  of  Jesus  at  all.  We  are  aware  that 
the  objection  or  quibble  which  is  put  forward  in  reply  to 
this  unanswerable  argument  is,  that  those  who  have  not 
heard  of  salvation  through  Jesus  will  be  judged  according 
to  the  light  they  have.  But  the  light  which  all  men 
have,  we  insist  again,  is  the  religion  here  advocated  ;  and 
this  is  all-sufficient  without  church  theologies,  forms,  or 
sacrifices.  Nothing  but  love  to  God,  and  kind  acts  to 
His  creatures,  is  required  of  any  man  as  a  condition  of 
salvation. 

Jesus  says  that  "  from  the  days  of  John  the  Baptist 
until  now  the  kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth  violence,  and 
the  violent  take  it  by  force  "  (Matthew  xi.,  12) ;  or  as  it  is 
in  Luke  xvi.,  16,  "  since  that  time  the  kingdom  of  God  is 


Jesus'  Teaching  Not  Uniform         309 

preached,  and  every  man  presseth  into  it."  Then  in  an- 
swer to  the  accusation  of  the  Pharisees,  that  he  drives  out 
devils  by  Beelzebub,  he  points  out  that  he  does  it,  on  the 
contrary,  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  therefore  that  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  already  among  them  (Matthew  xii., 
28).  He  says,  also  (John  xii.,  31):  "Now  is  the  judg- 
ment of  this  world";  and  (Luke  x.,  9):  "  The  kingdom 
of  God  is  come  nigh  unto  you";  and  Mark  says  (i.,  14, 
15),  "Jesus  came  into  Galilee  preaching  the  gospel  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  saying,  The  time  is  fulfilled  and  the  king- 
dom of  God  is  at  hand."  To  the  question,  again,  of  the 
Pharisees,  as  to  when  the  kingdom  of  God  shall  come,  he 
makes  answer  that  it  does  not  come  in  an  external,  per- 
ceptible manner,  but  it  is  within  them,  or  already  among 
them  (Luke  xvii.,  20,  21).  In  these  passages  the  kingdom 
of  God,  or  heaven,  is  represented  as  that  which  is  already 
here  present,  and  has  been  founded  and  opened  by  Jesus 
during  his  life  on  earth,  being  within  and  about  them  to 
whom  he  was  speaking.  Now  the  Churches  say  that  no 
man  can  enter  the  kingdom  of  God  until  he  shall  have 
faith  that  Jesus  voluntarily  gave  up  his  life  and  shed  his 
blood  for  the  remission  of  original  sin.  But,  up  to  the 
time  of  Jesus'  speaking,  no  such  occurrence  as  the  shed- 
ding of  his  blood  had  taken  place  ;  no  such  faith  or  belief 
had  been  presented  to  any  one  for  acceptance.  These 
wide  discrepancies  between  the  founder  and  the  Church 
that  was  built  up  must,  with  every  reasoning  mind,  over- 
throw any  faith  in  Christian  theology. 

But  it  is  not  the  Church  alone  that  differs  with  Jesus. 
He  differs  with  himself,  and  his  disciples  differ  with  him. 
We  have  just  seen  how  he  represents  those  around  him  as 
having  the  kingdom  of  God  in  and  about  them ;  in  other 
words,  that  God's  perfect  government  was  then  in  opera- 
tion upon  earth.  That  is,  in  all  conscience,  sufficiently 
definite  and  explicit,  and  treats  the  kingdom,  which  he 
looked  for,  as  a  fact  accomplished.  But  how  does  it  tally 


3io         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

with  Jesus'  subsequent  postponing  the  kingdom  —  with 
his  confession,  as  it  were,  that  after  all  it  had  not  absol- 
utely made  its  appearance?  It  is  in  the  I2th  chapter  of 
John  that  Jesus  is  made  to  say,  "  Now  is  the  judgment  of 
this  world  :  now  shall  the  prince  of  this  world  [Satan]  be 
cast  out " ;  it  is  in  the  I4th  that  he  says,  "  The  prince  of 
this  world  cometh,  and  hath  nothing  in  me  "  ;  and  in  the 
i6th,  "  Yea,  the  time  cometh,  that  whosoever  killeth  you 
will  think  that  he  doeth  God  service."  This  swaying  to 
and  fro,  this  uncertainty  as  to  time  and  the  sequence  of 
events,  this  attainment  and  this  passing  away,  this  vague 
advent  of  good  and  of  evil,  the  predictions  at  once  minute 
in  some  particulars  and  shadowy  in  others,  this  jumble  of 
the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future — all  tend  to  confuse 
the  inquiring  mind,  and  to  leave  the  diligent  reader  of  the 
New  Testament  floundering  in  a  strange  quagmire  of 
triumphs  and  tribulations.  The  Church,  indeed,  professes 
to  see  its  way  clear  through  all  difficulties,  interpreting 
one  obscure  passage  literally,  and  another  metaphorically, 
and  another  spiritually,  and  another  locally,  and  another 
historically.  You  can  never  find  it  at  fault,  for  want  of 
explanation  or  excuse.  But  the  light  that  it  throws  upon 
the  matter  is  little  better  than  that  of  a  dark  lantern. 
It  can  be  turned  on  at  will,  or  shut  off  at  convenience. 
There  is  another  point.  When  Jesus  apparently  awoke 
from  the  delusion  that  he  had  already  established  God's 
kingdom  on  earth,  he  changed  his  ground,  and  connected 
its  coming  with  his  own  Second  Advent.  But  herein  the 
foundation  for  Christian  theology  is  still  weaker.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Evangelical  accounts,  Jesus  considered  his 
Second  Advent  so  near  that  he  told  his  disciples  there 
were  some  among  those  standing  round  him  who  should 
not  taste  of  death  until  they  had  seen  the  Son  of  man 
coming  in  his  kingdom  (Matthew  xvi.,  28) ;  that  the  then 
living  generation  should  not  pass  away  until  this  had 
taken  place,  i.  e.,  until  the  Second  Advent  of  the  Son  of 


Man's  Destiny  311 

man,  with  all  its  preparatory  and  attendant  circumstances 
(Matthew  xxiv.,  34).  In  particular  he  announced  that 
this  last  great  event  was  to  occur  immediately  after  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  prophesied  by  him  just  before 
(Matthew  xxiv.,  34).  In  any  case,  he  was  greatly  mis- 
taken with  reference  to  the  date,  for  not  only  has  that 
generation  passed  away,  but  for  eighteen  hundred  years 
one  generation  after  another  has  followed  its  destiny  and 
run  out  its  allotted  time,  without  his  predicted  Second 
Advent's  having  taken  place.  Yet  all  this,  from  our  point 
of  view,  does  not  make  the  case  at  all  worse. 

For,  in  order  to  see  that  the  prophecy  of  a  man's  return 
in  the  clouds  is  something  utterly  groundless,  we  do  not 
require  to  know  that  it  did  not  take  place  at  the  time 
predicted.  Jesus  in  prominent  passages  in  Matthew  (xxiv. 
and  xxv.)  says  that  after  certain  lapses  and  mishaps  in 
the  starry  constellations,  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  will 
appear  in  the  heavens  ;  then,  amid  the  lamentations  of  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  the  Son  of  man  will  be  seen 
coming  on  the  clouds  with  power  and  glory ;  he  will  send 
out  his  angels  with  a  loud  sounding  trumpet,  in  order  to 
gather  his  elect  from  all  the  four  winds ;  and  then  will  he 
sit  upon  his  throne  to  judge  all  men,  to  doom  some  to 
everlasting  fire,  and  welcome  others  into  everlasting  life. 
Such  a  description  resists  every  attempt  to  give  it  a 
merely  symbolical  meaning  ;  and  as  the  Christian  Church 
always  understood  it  in  the  literal  meaning  of  the  words, 
so  it  was  certainly  meant  by  Jesus. 

It  would  appear  from  all  this  that  man's  destiny,  his 
transcendent  bliss,  or  excruciating  torment,  for  eternity, 
is  irrevocably  determined  during  his  probation  in  the 
flesh ;  that  this  probation  results  either  in  extreme  happi- 
ness or  in  extreme  misery  for  all  time  to  come ;  and  that 
there  is  no  lot  or  state  intermediate  for  man.  If  this  be 
so,  if  man's  destiny  be  altogether  worked  out  in  this  life, 
it  is  difficult  to  see  why  an  eternity  should  be  added  to  it, 


312          One  Religion:  Many  Creeds 

since  few  men  live  so  good  a  life  as  to  entitle  them  to  an 
eternity  of  bliss,  and  few  so  bad  a  life  as  to  deserve  an 
eternity  of  torment.  Moreover,  what  is  to  be  meted  out 
as  the  relatively  proper  state  beyond  the  grave  of  all  the 
various  intermediate  grades  of  merit  or  dement,  between 
those  on  the  one  hand  who,  according  to  the  Church,  merit 
eternal  bliss,  and  those  on  the  other  who  merit  eternal 
torment  ? 

If  we  inquire  of  the  Churches  what  reliable  indication 
there  is  on  this  side  of  the  grave  as  to  who  will  be  among 
the  blest,  and  who  among  the  accursed,  beyond  the  grave, 
we  shall  receive  as  many  different  answers  as  there  are 
different  denominations  or  sects,  all  claiming  Jesus  for 
their  guide.  The  number  of  these  sects  is  now  so  great 
as  to  make  it  difficult  to  designate  them ;  and  they  are 
every  day  increasing.  This  leaves  us  no  rational  course 
but  to  rely  for  instruction  upon  this  subject  upon  Him 
who,  as  all  mankind  acknowledge,  cannot  deceive  or  en- 
gender delusive  hopes — the  Creator  and  Governor  of  the 
Universe.  The  teaching  from  this  Source  is  uniform,  and 
consistent  with  every-day  experience.  It  is  that  there 
are  none  perfectly  happy  in  this  life,  and  none  perfectly 
and  irretrievably  miserable ;  that  there  is  every  possible 
intermediate  grade  between  the  most  happy  and  the  most 
unhappy ;  and  that  the  provisions  of  God  to  lead  all  men 
to  a  more  advanced  state  of  happiness  are  unceasingly 
operating,  and  cannot  fail  to  accomplish  the  object  God 
designed. 

Our  experience  on  this  side  of  the  grave  is  at  total 
variance  with  the  doctrine  that  mankind  is  divided  into 
two  classes  only,  one  being  perfectly  happy  and  the 
other  perfectly  miserable.  We  cannot  believe  that  our 
present  training  by  God  and  its  results  and  our  experi- 
ence here  should  not  in  a  degree  foreshadow  our  state 
beyond  the  grave. 

With  regard  to  the  narratives  in  the  Bible  of  occur- 


Man's  Destiny  313 

rences  and  sayings  upon  which  the  Christian  theology  of 
our  day  claims  to  be  founded,  there  is  little  of  which  we 
can  say  for  certain  that  it  took  place ;  and  of  all  to  which 
the  faith  of  the  Church  especially  attaches  itself,  the 
miraculous  and  supernatural  matter  in  the  fate  and  de- 
stiny of  Jesus,  it  is  far  more  certain  that  it  did  not  take 
place.  But  that  the  happiness  of  mankind  is  to  depend 
upon  belief  in  such  things  as  these  is  so  absurd  that  the 
assertion  of  the  principle  does  not,  at  the  present  day, 
require  refutation. 

But,  as  certainly  as  men  have  a  common  destiny,  at- 
tainable by  all,  so  a  knowledge  of  the  conditions  also  of 
reaching  that  object  must  be  given  to  every  man,  and 
that  knowledge  cannot  be  an  accidental  acquaintance 
with  history  coming  from  without,  but  must  be  a  neces- 
sary knowledge  attainable  by  faculties  such  as  every  man 
can  find  in  himself. 


APPENDIX 

WE  now  proceed  to  attempt  a  short  account  of  some  of 
the  most  celebrated  of  those  founders  of  theology 
who  were  said  to  be  inspired;  and  of  the  creeds  held,  and  the 
moral  teachings  inculcated  by  means  of  a  priesthood  or 
through  enacted  laws  among  the  most  prominent  sects  into 
which  men  have  been  divided.  We  shall  add  also  a  sketch  of 
the  views  concerning  religion  that  were  entertained  by  some 
of  the  most  intellectual  persons  in  ancient  times.  This 
account  mainly  consists  of  miscellaneous  extracts,  mostly 
from  the  following  books:  God  in  History,  by  Bunsen;  Essays 
on  the  Belief  of  the  Par  sees,  by  Haug;  Life  and  Teachings  of 
Confucius,  by  Legge;  Description  of  the  Burmese  Empire,  by 
Yandy;  the  Koran,  translated  from  the  Arabic  by  Sale;  Se- 
lections from  the  Koran,  by  Lane;  Ancient  Faiths,  by  Inman; 
Rig  Veda,  or  .Hindu  Scriptures,  translated  from  the  Sanskrit 
by  Wilson ;  History  of  the  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe,  by 
Draper;  History  of  Civilisation  in  England,  by  Buckle;  The  Ten 
Tribes  of  Israel,  by  Mrs.  Simon;  The  Dervishes,  by  Brown;  The 
Christian  Bible;  and  The  Talmud.  Not  only  is  the  historical 
portion  of  the  several  narratives  taken  from  the  above-named 
books,  but  the  views  and  remarks  with  which  they  are  inter- 
spersed are,  with  slight  exceptions,  those  of  the  writers  of  the 
works  in  question.  The  immediate  object  in  compiling  this 
historical  account  is  to  show  that  the  point  of  resemblance 
that  is  common  to  every  denomination  or  sect — and  the  only 
one  common  to  them  all — is  their  teaching  love  and  duty  to 
God  and  man,  or,  in  other  words,  natural  religion.  This  sug- 
gests the  important  question  whether  this  does  not  comprise 
the  whole  of  man's  religious  duty. 

The  present  age  is  pre-eminently  utilitarian.     The  Koran, 


316          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

the  Zend  Avesta,  the  Vedas,  the  Talmud,  are  read  by  the 
learned  and  the  wise  of  our  times — not  with  a  sole  view  of 
refuting  them,  any  more  than  is  the  Bible  so  read.  All  litera- 
ture in  relation  to  the  doings  of  man,  whether  religious,  moral, 
or  legal,  whensoever  and  wheresoever  produced,  is  a  part  and 
parcel  of  humanity.  The  judicious  student  seeks  to  under- 
stand the  phase  of  culture  which  begot  these  items  of  our 
inheritance — the  spirit  that  moves  upon  their  face — and  while 
that  which  is  dead  in  them  is  buried,  we  rejoice  in  that  which 
lives  in  them.  Our  stores  of  knowledge  are  enriched  from 
theirs.  We  are  stirred  by  their  poetry;  we  are  moved  to  high 
and  holy  thoughts  when  they  touch  the  divine  chord  in  our 
hearts.  The  more  extended  the  researches  into  the  history 
of  man,  the  more  reliable  are  the  data,  the  clearer  is  the  light 
upon  which  and  by  which  to  determine  the  true  character  of 
mankind  and  their  relations  to  God. 

ZOROASTRIANISM 

The  theology  and  religious  precepts  promulgated  by  Zoro- 
aster from  1 200  to  1500  years  B.C.  among  the  Parsees  have 
their  exponent  in  a  book  called  Zend  Avesta.  The  Zoroastrian 
idea  of  the  personality  and  attributes  of  the  devil  and  of 
the  infernal  kingdom  coincide  with  the  Christian  idea;  as 
does  that  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  Zoroaster  is  repre- 
sented to  have  worked  miracles;  he  was  called  the  son  of 
Ormasdes,  or  God.  The  Parsees  claim  that  their  so-called 
sacred  books  were  all  written  by  God  and  given  to  Zoroaster, 
as  His  prophet,  to  forward  them  to  mankind. 

Zoroaster  had  convened  the  nobles  of  the  land  that  he 
might  perform  a  great  public  religious  act.  Arriving  at  the 
head  of  his  disciples,  the  seers  and  preachers,  he  summoned 
the  princes  to  draw  nigh  and  to  choose  between  faith  and 
superstition. 

"  Make  your  choice!"  he  exclaims;  "around  man  there  is 
a  battle  waging  in  the  spiritual  universe.  Even  while  on 
earth,  he  is  surrounded  by  good  and  evil  spirits.  He  is  en- 
dowed with  all  manner  of  good  gifts  and  blessings;  and  his 


Zoroastrianism  31? 

soul  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Lord  of  the  Universe,  the  Creator 
and  Governor  of  the  world,  the  true  God.  Nevertheless,  in 
this  world,  Evil  has  an  independent  power  from  the  beginning; 
it  must  and  will  be  ultimately  overcome;  but  this  can  only  be 
effected  by  a  sincere  breaking  with  the  Evil  Power — a  personal 
decision  in  favour  of  the  Good  and  True.  Choose  now  bless- 
ing or  cursing!  You  cannot  serve  two  masters;  and  you  cannot 
hold  fellowship  with  lies.  One  side  or  the  other  must  yield." 
The  following  is  also  a  part  of  the  recorded  speech  of  Zoro- 
aster on  this  occasion: 

"  I  will  now  tell  you,  who  are  assembled  here,  the  wise  say- 
ings of  the  most  Wise,  the  praises  of  the  living  God.  In  the 
beginning  there  was  a  pair  of  twins,  two  spirits,  each  of  a 
peculiar  activity;  these  are  the  good  and  the  base  in  thought, 
and  word,  and  deed.  Choose  one  of  the  two  spirits,  be  good, 
not  base! 

"And  these  two  spirits  united  created  the  first  (the 
material  things);  one  the  reality,  the  other,  non-reality.  To 
the  liars  (the  worshippers  of  the  devas,  /.  <?.,  base),  existence 
will  become  bad,  whilst  the  believer  in  the  true  God  enjoys 
prosperity.  Of  these  two  spirits  you  must  choose  one,  either 
the  evil,  the  originator  of  the  worst  actions,  or  the  true  holy 
spirit.  You  cannot  belong  to  both  of  them  (/.  ^.,  you  cannot 
be  worshippers  of  the  one  true  God,  and  of  many  gods  at  the 
same  time).  Thus  let  us  be  such  as  help  the  life  of  the  future. 
The  wise,  loving  spirits  are  the  greatest  supporters  of  it.  The 
prudent  man  wishes  only  to  be  there  where  wisdom  is  at 
home.  He  (Ahuramazda)  first  created  through  His  inborn 
lustre  the  multitude  of  celestial  bodies,  and  through  His  intel- 
lect the  good  creatures,  governed  by  the  inborn  good  mind. 

"  When  my  eyes  beheld  Thee,  the  essence  of  truth,  the  cre- 
ator of  life,  who  manifests  His  life  in  His  works,  then  I  knew 
Thee  to  be  the  primeval  spirit,  thou  Wise,  so  high  in  mind  as 
to  create  the  world,  and  the  father  of  the  good  mind." 

Zoroaster  claims  to  have  received  instructions  from  a 
Supreme  Being  about  the  highest  matters  of  human  specula- 
tion. He  appears  as  a  prophet  before  a  large  assembly  of  his 
countrymen  to  propound  to  them  his  new  doctrines. 


318         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

The  Magi  (or  priests)  of  Persia  were  at  one  time  split  into 
several  sects,  one  of  which  was  called  the  Mazda  Kyahs,  who 
believed  in  the  transmigration  of  souls,  like  the  Brahmans  (a 
doctrine  which  is  altogether  strange  to  the  Zend  Avesta, 
the  sacred  book  of  the  Parsees).  Another  sect  believed 
in  a  revelation  made  by  God  to  the  first  man,  called 
Gayomart  by  the  Parsees,  corresponding  to  the  Adam  of  the 
Bible. 

"  He  therefore  who,  sacrificing  his  own  selfish  interests, 
devotes  himself  to  the  Divine  will,  to  goodness,  shall  receive 
earthly  power,  strength,  possessions.  This  earth  with  her 
gifts  is  the  heritage  of  the  good,  or  is  destined  to  become  so." 
This  view  pervades  all  the  sayings  of  Zoroaster. 

The  Zoroastrian  sacred  book  furthermore  exhibits  the 
following  teachings,  which  will  compare  advantageously  with 
those  of  the  Bible.  Lying  is  regarded  as  the  most  discreditable 
thing  by  them;  next  to  it  is  the  incurring  of  debt,  chiefly  for 
this  reason,  that  the  debtor  is  often  compelled  to  tell  lies. 
Zoroaster  acknowledged  only  one  God.  "  You  cannot  be 
worshippers  of  the  one  true  God,  and  of  many  gods  at  the 
same  time." 

"  The  prudent  man  wishes  only  to  be  there  where  wisdom 
is  at  home. 

"  Wisdom  is  the  shelter  from  lies,  the  annihilation  of  the 
destroyer  (the  evil  spirit).  All  perfect  things  are  garnered  up 
in  the  splendid  residence  of  the  good  mind,  the  Wise,  and 
the  True,  who  are  known  as  the  best  beings. 

"  Therefore,  perform  ye  the  commandments  which,  pro- 
nounced by  the  Wise  (God)  Himself,  have  been  given  to  man- 
kind; for  they  are  a  nuisance  and  perdition  to  liars,  but 
prosperity  to  the  believer  in  the  truth;  they  are  the  fountain 
of  happiness. 

"  He  first  created  through  His  inborn  lustre  the  multitude  of 
celestial  bodies,  and  through  His  intellect  the  good  creatures, 
governed  by  the  inborn  good  mind.  Thou  living  spirit,  who 
art  everlasting,  makest  them  (the  good  creatures)  grow. 

"  Do  not  listen  to  the  sayings  and  precepts  of  the  wicked. 

"  Who  are  opposed  in  their  thoughts,  words,  and  actions  to 


Zoroastrianism  3 i 9 

the  wicked,  and  think  of  the  welfare  of  creation,  their  efforts 
will  be  crowned  by  success. 

"  Blessed  is  he,  blessed  are  all  men,  to  whom  the  living 
wise  God  of  His  own  command  should  grant  those  two  ever- 
lasting powers  (wholesomeness  and  immortality).  For  this 
very  good  I  beseech  Thee  (Ahuramazda).  Mayest  Thou 
give  me  happiness,  the  good  true  things,  and  the  possession 
of  the  good  mind! 

"  I  believe  Thee  to  be  the  best  Being  of  all,  the  Source  of 
light  for  the  world.  Everybody  shall  choose  Thee  (believe  in 
Thee)  as  the  source  of  light,  Thee,  Thee,  holiest  spirit  Mazda! 
Thou  Greatest  all  good  true  things  by  means  of  the  power  of 
Thy  good  mind  at  any  time,  and  promisest  us  (who  believe  in 
Thee)  a  long  life. 

"  I  will  believe  Thee  to  be  the  powerful  holy  (God).  For 
thou  givest  with  Thy  hand,  filled  with  helps,  good  to  the  pious 
man,  as  well  as  to  the  impious,  by  means  of  the  warmth  of  the 
fire  strengthening  the  good  things.  From  this  reason  the 
vigour  of  the  good  mind  has  fallen  to  my  lot. 

"Thus  I  believe  in  Thee,  as  the  holy  God,  Thou  living 
Wise!  Because  I  beheld  Thee  to  be  the  primeval  cause  of  life 
in  the  creation.  For  Thou  hast  made  (instituted)  holy  customs 
and  words,  Thou  hast  given  a  bad  fortune  (emptiness)  to  the 
base,  and  a  good  to  the  good  man. 

"  I  believed  in  Thee,  living  Wise!  in  that  Thou  earnest  with 
wealth  and  with  the  good  mind  through  the  actions  of  which 
our  manners  thrive.  The  everlasting  laws,  given  by  Thy 
intellect,  nobody  may  abolish. 

"  I  will  be  mindful  of  the  truth  (to  improve  all  good  things) 
as  long  as  I  shall  be  able.  Mayest  Thou  grant  me  the  truth, 
tell  me  the  best  to  be  done. 

"  That  I  will  ask  Thee,  tell  me  it  right,  Thou  living  God! 
By  what  means  are  the  present  things  to  be  supported  ?  That 
spirit,  the  holy  one,  is  the  guardian  of  the  beings  to  ward  off 
from  them  every  evil,  He  is  the  promoter  of  all  life. 

"That  I  will  ask  Thee,  tell  me  it  right,  Thou  living  God! 
Who  was  in  the  beginning  the  father  and  creator  of  truth  ? 
Who  made  the  sun  and  stars  the  way  ?  Who  causes  the  moon 


320         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

to  increase  and  wane,  if  not  Thou  ?  This  I  wish  to  know 
except  what  I  already  know. 

"  That  I  will  ask  Thee,  tell  me  it  right,  Thou  living  God! 
Who  made  the  lights  of  good  effect  and  the  darkness  ?  Who 
made  the  sleep  of  good  effect  and  the  activity  ?  Who  made 
morning,  noon,  and  night,  reminding  always  the  priest  of  his 
duties  ? 

"  To  become  acquainted  with  these  things,  I  approach 
Thee,  wise,  holy  spirit!  Creator  of  all  beings! 

"Tell  me  good  things  to  perform,  the  duties  which  are 
enjoined  by  Thyself,  Thou  Wise!  Which  are  communicated 
for  the  welfare  of  all  beings  by  the  good  mind.  What  good, 
intended  for  the  increase  of  life,  is  to  be  had,  that  may  come 
to  me  ? 

"  Instruct  me  right  in  the  faith  which,  being  the  best  of  all, 
may  produce  the  good  things,  by  means  of  words,  and  actions. 
My  heart  wishes  (it  is  my  lively  desire)  that  I  may  know  Thee, 
Thou  Wise! 

"  To  those  among  you  who  do  not  live  according  to  the 
sayings  (of  God),  experience  may  be  a  help. 

"  God  is  endowed  with  good  actions.  Not  is  the  being, 
who  creates  all  to  be  deceived. 

"  God  delivered  the  word,  the  best  to  be  heard  by  men. 
Wholesomeness  and  immortality  are  by  means  of  the  good 
mind's  actions  in  the  possession  of  the  living  Wise. 

"  By  means  of  His  power  and  His  rule  the  generations  gone 
by  subsisted,  and  also  those  to  come  will  subsist  on  Him.  The 
sincere  man's  mind  is  aspiring  to  the  everlasting  immortality. 

"  Him,  whom  I  desire  to  worship,  Him,  who  knows  the 
truth,  Him,  the  living  Wise,  as  the  source  of  the  good  mind, 
the  good  action,  and  the  good  word. 

"  Him  will  I  adore  with  our  good  mind,  Him,  who  is  always 
propitious  to  us  at  day  and  night;  He,  the  living  Wise, 
who  through  the  sublimity  of  the  good  mind  protects  the 
truth. 

"  Thou  living  God!  Tell  me  the  power  necessary  for  hold- 
ing up  the  religion. 

"What   man   or   what   woman   performs  the  best  actions, 


Zoroastrianism  321 

known  to  Thee,  for  the  benefit  of  this  life,  promoting  thus  the 
truth  and  spreading  Thy  rule  through  the  good  mind. 

"  To  you  I  will  speak;  because  you  distinguish  right  from 
wrong,  the  truth,  contained  in  the  ancient  commandments  of 
the  living  God.  I  beseech  you  to  assist  me. 

"  Those  who,  by  their  base  minds,  cause  mischief  and  ruin, 
those  who  are  devoid  of  all  good  works  and  find  delight  in 
evil  doings  only — such  men  are  punished. 

"  Every  one  who  is  truly  noble  by  means  of  the  good  inborn 
mind  will  be  rewarded. 

"  We  praise  all  good  thoughts,  all  good  words,  all  good 
deeds,  which  are  and  will  be  (which  are  being  done  and 
which  have  been  done)  and  we  likewise  keep  clean  and  pure 
all  that  is  good. 

"  We  strive  to  think,  to  speak,  and  to  do  only  what  of  all 
actions  might  be  best  fitted  to  promote  the  two  lives  (that  of 
the  body  and  of  the  soul). 

"  We  worship  the  promotion  of  all  good,  all  that  is  very 
beautiful,  shining,  immortal,  bright,  everything  that  is  good. 

;<  There  shall  not  be  overbearance  nor  low-spiritedness,  nor 
violence,  nor  deceit.  Nor  shall  there  be  one  of  the  other 
signs  through  which  men  used  to  become  defiled  by  the  evil 
spirit." 

Zarathustra  called  into  existence  a  new  religious  com- 
munity to  be  founded  on  the  principle  of  inviolable  faith  and 
truth. 

Ahuramazda,  as  the  only  Lord,  grants  blessings  to  those 
who  worship  Him  with  a  sincere  heart,  by  speaking  always 
truth,  and  performing  good  actions. 

A  living  faith  in  a  moral  order  of  the  world  can  alone  ex- 
plain the  influence  which  the  Zoroastrian  religion  has  now 
exercised  for  three  thousand  years  on  the  populations  of 
Western  Asia. 

The  Zoroastrian  system  recognises  one  God,  omnipotent, 
invisible,  without  form,  the  Creator,  Ruler,  and  Preserver  of 
the  universe,  and  the  last  Judge.  The  worship  of  idols,  and 
indeed  of  any  being  except  Ormuzd,  is  held  in  abomination  ; 
but  a  reverence  for  fire  and  the  sun  is  inculcated,  as  they  are 


322          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

emblems  of  the  glory  of  the  Supreme  Deity.  It  is  probably 
true,  however,  that  the  multitude  in  the  course  of  time  have 
forgotten  that  discrimination  between  the  symbol  and  the 
object  of  their  adoration  which  was  undoubtedly  taught  by 
Zoroaster.  To  Ormuzd  as  the  Source  of  all  good  is  opposed 
Ahriman,  the  cause  of  evil.  To  worship  the  good  spirit  and 
hate  the  bad  are  the  two  fundamental  articles  of  the  Guebre 
and  Parsee  creed.  Prayer,  obedience,  industry,  honesty,  hos- 
pitality, alms-deeds,  chastity,  and  truthfulness  are  enjoined; 
and  envy,  hatred,  quarrelling,  anger,  revenge,  and  polygamy 
are  strictly  forbidden.  Fasting  and  celibacy  are  considered 
displeasing  to  Ormuzd. 

MOHAMMEDANISM 

The  Koran  of  Mohammed  is  a  code  of  ritual,  moral,  and 
criminal  laws,  as  well  as  a  rule  of  faith,  or  theology,  and  re- 
ligious duty  for  a  large  portion  of  mankind. 

The  general  religion  of  the  Arabs,  before  Mohammed,  was 
the  Sabian;  though  there  were  also  great  numbers  of  Christians, 
Jews,  and  Magians  among  them. 

The  Sabians  believe  in  one  God,  and  produce  many  strong 
arguments  for  His  unity;  but  they  also  pay  an  adoration  to  the 
stars,  or  to  the  angels  and  intelligences  which  they  suppose 
reside  in  them  and  govern  the  world  under  the  Supreme 
Deity.  They  endeavour  to  perfect  themselves  in  the  four  in- 
tellectual virtues,  and  believe  that  the  souls  of  wicked  men 
will  be  punished  for  ages,  but  will  afterwards  be  received  to 
mercy.  Mohammed  is  said  to  have  been  born  fifty-three 
years  before  the  Flight,  which  happened  in  the  year  622  of 
the  Christian  era.  His  father  Abd- Allah  was  a  younger  son 
of  Abd-el-Muttalib,  the  chief  of  his  tribe,  and,  dying  very 
young  and  in  his  father's  lifetime,  left  his  widow  and  infant 
son  in  very  mean  circumstances,  his  whole  substance  con- 
sisting of  but  five  camels  and  an  Abyssinian  female  slave. 
Mohammed  was  instructed  in  the  business  of  a  merchant, 
which  business  his  uncle  followed;  and  to  that  end  he  took 
him  into  Syria,  when  he  was  but  thirteen  years  of  age,  and 


Mohammedanism  323 

afterwards  recommended  him  to  Khadeejeh,  a  noble  and  rich 
widow,  for  her  factor,  in  whose  service  he  behaved  himself  so 
well  that  by  making  him  her  husband  she  soon  raised  him  to 
an  equality  with  the  richest  in  Mekkeh.  His  age  was  then 
five  and  twenty  years,  and  hers  was  forty.  After  fifteen  years 
from  the  period  of  his  marriage,  his  age  being  now  forty,  he 
announced  for  the  first  time  that  he  was  sent  by  God  to 
restore  the  only  true  and  ancient  religion  which  had  been 
professed  by  Adam,  Noah,  Abraham,  Moses,  Jesus,  and  all 
the  prophets;  or,  in  other  words,  to  destroy  the  gross  idolatry 
into  which  the  generality  of  his  countrymen  had  fallen,  and 
by  weeding  out  the  corruptions  and  superstitions  which  the 
later  Christians  and  Jews  had  introduced  into  religion,  to 
restore  it  to  its  original  purity,  which  consisted  chiefly  in  the 
worship  of  one  God  only.  Christianity,  wherever  it  was  pro- 
fessed, in  the  time  of  Mohammed  was  most  grossly  corrupted, 
both  in  doctrine  and  in  practice.  The  notion  of  the  Divinity 
of  the  Virgin  Mary  appears,  from  what  is  said  by  comment- 
ators on  the  Koran,  to  have  prevailed  widely  among  the 
Christians  of  Arabia.  Some  also  at  the  Council  of  Nice 
asserted  that  there  were  two  gods  beside  the  Father,  namely, 
Christ  and  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  were  thence  called  the  Maria- 
mites.  Others  imagined  her  to  be  exempt  from  humanity, 
and  deified.  This  opinion  is  justly  condemned  in  the  Koran. 
Other  sects  there  were,  of  many  denominations,  within  the 
borders  of  Arabia,  which  took  refuge  there  from  the  pro- 
scriptions of  the  imperial  edicts;  and  several  of  their  tenets 
the  Koran  confirmed. 

With  regard  to  the  Jews,  though  they  were  an  inconsider- 
able and  despised  people  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  yet  in 
Arabia,  whither  many  of  them  fled  after  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  they  grew  very  powerful,  several  tribes  and  princes 
embracing  their  religion.  Mohammed  at  first  showed  great 
regard  for  them,  and  many  of  their  opinions,  doctrines,  and 
customs  were  sanctioned  by  the  Koran,  but  that  people, 
agreeably  to  their  wonted  obstinacy,  were  so  far  from  being 
his  proselytes  that  they  were  among  the  bitterest  enemies 
he  had,  waging  continual  war  with  him,  so  that  their  reduction 


324         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

cost  him  infinite  trouble  and  danger,  and  at  last  his  life 
— a  remarkable  coincidence  as  between  Mohammed  and 
Christ. 

The  eloquence  of  the  Koran;  the  nature  of  its  principal 
dogmas  (which  required  no  one  to  whom  it  was  preached  to 
renounce  altogether  his  former  faith);  the  general  adaptation 
of  its  civil  and  criminal  laws  to  the  existing  constitution  of 
Arabian  society;  the  political  liberty  which  it  conferred  upon 
the  mass  of  its  disciples  (by  making  them  equal  in  the  eye  of 
the  law),  while  it  limited  the  power  of  those  in  authority  (by 
religious  obligations);  the  smallness  of  the  taxes  which  it 
imposed;  the  simplicity,  completeness,  and  consistency  of  its 
whole  code  (which  was  to  be  observed  always  according  to 
its  spirit  rather  than  its  letter),  all  this  had  an  effect  to  make 
his  teachings  acceptable. 

Mohammed  had  certainly  the  personal  qualifications  which 
were  necessary  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  undertaking. 
The  Moslem  authors  are  excessive  in  their  commendations  of 
him,  and  speak  much  of  his  religious  and  moral  virtues;  as  his 
piety,  veracity,  justice,  liberality,  clemency,  humility,  and 
abstinence.  His  charity  in  particular,  they  say,  was  so  con- 
spicuous that  he  had  seldom  any  money  in  his  house,  keeping 
no  more  for  his  own  use  than  was  just  sufficient  to  maintain 
his  family;  and  he  frequently  spared  even  some  part  of  his 
own  provisions  to  supply  the  necessities  of  the  poor;  so  that 
before  the  year's  end  he  had  generally  little  or  nothing  left. 
God,  says  El-Bukharee,  offered  him  the  keys  of  the  treasures 
of  the  earth,  but  he  would  not  accept  them.  The  Eastern 
historians  also  describe  him  as  a  man  of  an  excellent  judg- 
ment, and  a  happy  memory;  and  these  natural  parts  were 
improved  by  a  great  experience  and  knowledge  of  men,  and 
the  observations  he  had  made  in  his  travels.  They  say  he  was  a 
person  of  few  words,  of  an  equal  and  cheerful  temper,  pleasant 
and  familiar  in  conversation,  of  inoffensive  behaviour  towards 
his  friends,  and  of  great  condescension  towards  his  inferiors; 
to  all  which  were  joined  a  comely,  agreeable  person,  and  a 
polite  address,  which  were  of  no  small  service  in  prepossess- 
ing those  in  his  favour  whom  he  attempted  to  persuade. 


Mohammedanism  325 

As  to  acquired  learning  (in  the  common  acceptation  of  the 
term)  it  is  confessed  that  he  had  none  at  all,  having  no  other 
education  than  what  was  eustomary  in  his  tribe.  This  defect 
was  so  far  from  being  prejudicial,  or  putting  a  stop  to  his 
design,  that  he  made  the  greatest  use  of  it,  insisting  that  the 
writings  which  he  produced  as  revelations  from  God  could 
not  possibly  be  a  forgery  of  his  own;  because  it  was  not  con- 
ceivable that  a  person  who  could  neither  write  nor  read  should 
be  able  to  compose  a  book  of  such  excellent  doctrine,  and  in 
so  elegant  a  style;  and  thereby  obviating  an  objection  that 
might  have  carried  a  great  deal  of  weight.  And  for  this 
reason  his  followers,  instead  of  being  ashamed  of  their  master's 
ignorance,  glory  in  it,  as  an  evident  proof  of  his  divine  mission, 
and  scruple  not  to  call  him  (as  he  is  indeed  called  in  the  Koran 
itself)  the  Illiterate  Prophet. 

Before  Mohammed  made  any  attempt  abroad,  he  rightly 
judged  that  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  begin  by  the  conver- 
sion of  his  own  household.  Having  therefore  conducted  his 
family  to  a  cave  in  Mount  Hera,  near  Mekkeh,  whither  he 
had  been  accustomed  to  retire  for  a  month  in  every  year,  for 
the  purposes  of  religious  contemplation  and  worship,  he  there 
opened  the  secret  of  his  mission  to  his  wife  Khadeejeh.  He 
acquainted  her  that  the  angel  Gabriel  had  just  before  ap- 
peared to  him  and  informed  him  that  he  was  appointed  the 
apostle  of  God  ;  telling  her  that  the  angel  had  previously 
addressed  him,  saying,  "  Recite,"  whereupon  he  said,  "  And 
what  shall  I  recite?"  —  to  which  Gabriel  answered,  "  Recite, 
[commencing  thus]  In  the  name  of  thy  Lord,  who  hath 
created  [all  creatures]  :  he  hath  created  man  of  a  little  clot 
of  blood.  Recite,  and  thy  Lord  is  the  most  Bountiful,  who 
hath  taught  [the  art  of  writing]  by  the  pen  :  He  hath  taught 
man  that  which  he  knew  not."  Khadeejeh  received  this  news 
with  great  joy,  swearing  by  Him  in  whose  hand  (that  is,  at 
whose  disposal)  was  her  soul,  that  she  trusted  he  would  be  the 
prophet  of  his  nation  ;  and  immediately  communicated  what 
she  had  heard  to  her  cousin  Warikah  Ibn-Nowfal,  who,  being 
a  Christian,  could  write  in  the  Hebrew  character,  and  was 
tolerably  well  versed  in  the  Scriptures  ;  and  he  as  readily 


326         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

came  into  her  opinion,  assuring  her  that  the  same  angel  who 
had  formerly  appeared  unto  Moses  was  now  sent  to  Moham- 
med. This  first  overture  the  Prophet  made  in  the  month  of 
Ramadan,  in  the  fortieth  year  of  his  age,  which  he  therefore 
usually  called  the  first  of  his  mission.  The  next  person  to 
whom  Mohammed  applied  was  'Abd-Allah  Ibn-Abee-Kohafeh, 
surnamed  Aboo-Bekr,  a  man  of  great  authority  among  the 
tribe  of  Kureysh,  and  one  whose  interest  he  well  knew  would 
be  of  great  service  to  him,  as  it  soon  appeared,  for  Aboo-Bekr, 
being  gained  over,  prevailed  also  on  'Othman  Ibn-'Affan,  'Abd- 
Er-Rahman,  Ibn-'Owf,  Saad  Ibn-Abee-Wakkas,  Ez-Zubeyr 
Ibn-El-'Owwam,  and  Talhah  Ibn-'Obeyd  Allah,  all  principal 
men  in  Mekkeh,  to  follow  his  example. 

These  men  were  the  six  chief  companions,  who,  with  a  few 
more,  were  converted  in  the  space  of  three  years  ;  at  the  end 
of  which,  Mohammed,  having,  as  he  hoped,  a  sufficient  inter- 
est to  support  him,  made  his  mission  no  longer  a  secret.  He 
made  the  following  speech  :  "  I  know  not  a  man  among  the 
Arabs  who  hath  brought  unto  his  people  a  more  excellent 
thing  than  that  which  I  have  brought  unto  you.  I  have 
brought  unto  you  happiness  in  this  life  and  in  that  which  is 
to  come  ;  for  God  (whose  name  be  exalted  !)  hath  com- 
manded me  to  call  you  unto  Him." 

Mohammed  began  to  preach  in  public  to  the  people,  who 
heard  him  with  some  patience,  till  he  came  to  upbraid  them 
with  the  idolatry,  obstinacy,  and  perverseness  of  themselves 
and  their  fathers  ;  which  so  highly  provoked  them  that  they 
declared  themselves  his  enemies,  and  would  soon  have  pro- 
cured his  ruin,  had  he  not  been  protected  by  Aboo-Talib. 

Mohammed  was  not  to  be  intimidated,  telling  his  uncle 
plainly  that  if  they  set  the  sun  against  him  on  his  right  hand, 
and  the  moon  on  his  left,  he  would  not  leave  his  enterprise  ; 
and  Aboo-Talib,  seeing  him  so  firmly  resolved  to  proceed, 
used  no  further  arguments,  but  promised  to  stand  by  him 
against  all  his  enemies. 

The  tribe  of  Kureysh,  finding  that  they  could  prevail 
neither  by  fair  words  nor  by  menaces,  tried  what  they  could 
do  by  force  and  ill-treatment,  using  Mohammed's  followers  so 


Mohammedanism  327 

very  injuriously  that  it  was  not  safe  for  them  to  continue  at 
Mekkeh  any  longer.  In  the  sixth  year  of  his  mission  Mo- 
hammed had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  his  party  strengthened  by 
the  conversion  of  his  uncle  Hamzeh,  a  man  of  great  valour 
and  merit,  and  of  'Omar  Ibin-El-Khattab,  a  person  highly 
esteemed,  and  once  a  violent  opposer  of  the  Prophet.  As 
persecution  generally  advances  rather  than  obstructs  the 
spreading  of  a  religion,  El-Islam  made  great  progress  among 
the  Arab  tribes. 

Mohammed  was  not  wanting  to  himself.  He  boldly  con- 
tinued to  preach  to  the  public  assemblies  at  the  pilgrimage  ; 
and  while  doing  so  at  the  'Akabeh  (or  Mountain  Road,  in  the 
route  of  the  pilgrims  from  Mekkeh  to  Mount  'Arafat),  gained 
six  proselytes,  inhabitants  of  Yethrib  (afterwards  called  El- 
Medeeneh),  of  the  Jewish  tribe  of  El-Khazraj,  who,  on  their 
return  home,  failed  not  to  speak  much  in  commendation  of 
their  new  religion,  and  exhorted  their  fellow-citizens  to  em- 
brace the  same. 

In  the  same  year,  which  was  the  next  year  after  the  con- 
version of  the  six  men  of  Yethrib,  twelve  men  of  that  city,  of 
whom  ten  were  of  the  tribe  of  El-Khazraj,  and  the  other 
two  of  that  of  Ows,  came  on  a  pilgrimage,  and  made  a  vow 
of  obedience  to  Mohammed,  which  was  to  this  effect,  viz.: 
That  they  should  renounce  all  idolatry;  that  they  should 
not  steal,  nor  commit  fornication,  nor  kill  their  children  (as 
the  pagan  Arabs  used  to  do  when  they  apprehended  that  they 
would  not  be  able  to  maintain  them),  nor  forge  lies  ;  and 
that  they  should  obey  the  Prophet  in  all  things  that  were 
right.  The  next  year,  being  the  thirteenth  of  Mohammed's 
mission,  he  chose  twelve  out  of  his  followers,  who  were  to 
have  the  same  authority  among  them  as  the  twelve  apostles  of 
Christ  had  among  his  disciples. 

Hitherto  Mohammed  had  employed  persuasion  only  to  effect 
his  enterprise.  So  far  was  he  from  allowing  his  followers  to 
use  force,  that  he  exhorted  them  to  bear  patiently  those  injuries 
which  were  offered  them  on  account  of  their  faith  ;  and,  when 
persecuted  himself,  he  chose  to  quit  the  place  of  his  birth 
and  retire  to  El-Medeeneh,  rather  than  to  make  any  resistance. 


328         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

But  when  the  opposition  of  his  enemies  had  become  so 
great  as  to  threaten  the  lives  of  himself  and  his  followers, 
and  the  latter  were  sufficiently  numerous  to  take  up  arms  in 
self-defence,  with  a  fair  prospect  of  success,  he  proclaimed 
that  God  had  allowed  him  and  his  followers  to  defend  them- 
selves against  the  unbelievers. 

When  Mohammed's  party  had  become  sufficiently  numer- 
ous and  powerful  to  put  its  laws  in  execution,  by  achiev- 
ing repeated  victories  over  enemies  who  might  easily  have 
overwhelmed  them  but  for  want  of  union,  the  number  of  the 
nominal  Muslims  was  thereby  rapidly  increased,  and  the  faith 
of  El-Islam  indirectly  propagated. 

Thus  was  El-Islam  established,  and  idolatry  rooted  out,  in 
Mohammed's  lifetime  (for  he  died  the  next  year),  throughout 
all  Arabia,  except  only  El-Yemameh  :  where  Museylimeh, 
who  set  up  also  for  a  prophet,  as  Mohammed's  competitor, 
had  a  great  party,  and  was  not  reduced  until  the  time  of  the 
Khaleefeh  Aboo-Bekr.  The  Arabs  being  then  united  in  one 
faith  and  under  one  prince,  found  themselves  in  a  condition 
to  make  those  conquests  which  extended  the  dominion  of  the 
Muslims,  and  consequently  their  faith,  over  so  great  a  part  of 
the  world. 

The  Koran  is  universally  allowed  to  be  written  with  the 
utmost  elegance  and  purity  of  language,  in  the  dialect  of  the 
tribe  of  Kureysh,  the  most  noble  and  polite  of  all  the  Arabs, 
but  with  some  mixture,  though  very  rarely,  of  other  dialects. 
It  is  confessedly  the  standard  of  the  Arabic  tongue,  and,  as 
the  more  orthodox  believe,  and  are  taught  by  the  book  itself, 
inimitable  by  any  human  pen,  and  therefore  it  is  insisted  on 
as  a  permanent  miracle,  greater  than  that  of  raising  the  dead, 
and  alone  sufficient  to  convince  the  world  of  its  divine  origin. 

To  this  miracle  did  Mohammed  himself  chiefly  appeal  for 
the  confirmation  of  his  mission,  publicly  challenging  the  most 
eloquent  men  in  Arabia,  which  was  at  that  time  stocked  with 
thousands  whose  sole  study  and  ambition  it  was  to  excel  in 
elegance  of  style  and  composition,  to  produce  even  a  single 
chapter  that  might  be  compared  with  it. 

The  style  of  the  Koran  is  generally  beautiful  and  fluent, 


Mohammedanism  329 

but  concise,  and  often  obscure  ;  adorned  with  bold  figures 
after  the  Eastern  taste,  enlivened  with  florid  and  sententious 
expressions,  and  in  many  places,  especially  where  the  majesty 
and  attributes  of  God  are  described,  sublime  and  magnificent. 

The  burthen  of  the  teaching  of  the  Koran  is  the  unity  of 
God,  and  the  duty  of  man  to  man,  it  being  laid  down  therein 
as  a  fundamental  truth,  that  there  never  was,  and  never  can 
be,  more  than  one  true  religion  ;  for  though  the  particular 
laws  or  ceremonies  are  only  temporary,  and  subject  to  altera- 
tion, yet  the  substance  of  it,  being  eternal  truth,  is  not  liable 
to  change,  but  continues  immutably  the  same. 

Other  parts  of  the  Koran  are  taken  up  in  giving  necessary 
laws  and  directions,  in  frequent  admonitions  to  moral  and 
divine  virtues,  and,  above  all,  to  the  worshipping  and  reverenc- 
ing of  the  only  true  God,  and  resignation  to  His  will.  The 
following  are  among  its  teachings  : 

The  pious  is  he  who  believeth  in  God,  and  who  giveth 
money  to  the  needy;  those  who  perform  their  covenant  with 
men  in  adversity  (or  excessive  poverty)  and  affliction  (or 
disease)  and  do  that  which  is  right  (according  to  God's  law), 
they  shall  have  their  reward. 

Those  who  do  an  evil  thing  shall  be  punished,  but  they 
who  have  believed,  and  done  good  works,  these  shall  be 
rewarded. 

These  are  they  who  have  purchased  error  in  exchange  for 
right  direction,  and  their  traffic  hath  not  been  profitable:  on 
the  contrary,  they  have  incurred  loss.  And  God  encompass- 
eth  the  unbelievers  by  His  knowledge  and  His  powers,  so  that 
they  cannot  escape  Him. 

Those  who  have  believed  in  God  and  done  righteous  works 
shall  be  rewarded,  the  hypocrites  shall  be  punished. 

The  service  of  God  is  as  the  similitude  of  a  grain  that  hath 
produced  seven  ears,  in  each  ear  a  hundred  grains. 

A  kind  speech  and  forgiveness  are  better  than  alms  which 
harm,  or  reproach,  followeth. 

Turn  away  evil  by  that  which  is  better  (as  anger  by  patience, 
and  ignorance  by  mildness,  and  evil  conduct  by  forgiveness)  ; 
and  lo,  he  between  whom  and  thyself  (was)  enmity  (shall 


33°         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

become)  as  though  he  were  a  warm  friend:  but  none  is  endowed 
with  this  disposition  except  those  who  have  been  patient;  and 
none  is  endowed  with  it*  except  him  who  hath  great  good 
fortune. 

Verily  God  commandeth  justice,  and  the  doing  of  good, 
and  the  giving  unto  the  relation;  and  He  forbiddeth  wicked- 
ness and  iniquity  and  opression:  He  admonisheth  you  that  ye 
may  reflect. 

Give  the  orphans  when  they  come  to  age  their  substance, 
and  render  them  not  in  exchange  bad  for  good,  and  devour 
not  their  substance  by  adding  it  to  your  own  substance;  for 
this  is  a  great  sin. 

Those  who  do  evil  ignorantly,  and  then  repent  speedily, 
unto  them  will  God  be  turned;  for  God  is  knowing  and  wise. 

Covet  not  that  which  God  hath  bestowed  on  some  of  you 
preferably  to  others. 

The  honest  women  are  obedient,  careful  in  the  absence  of 
their  husbands;  for  that  God  preserveth  them  by  committing 
them  to  the  care  and  protection  of  the  men,  seek  not  an 
occasion  of  quarrel  against  them;  show  kindness  unto  parents, 
and  relations,  and  orphans,  and  the  poor,  and  your  neighbour. 
Verily  God  will  not  wrong  any  one,  and  if  it  be  a  good  action 
He  will  recompense  it  with  a  great  reward. 

God  is  a  sufficient  patron;  and  God  is  a  sufficient  helper. 

Those  who  believe  and  do  that  which  is  right,  we  will  bring 
into  gardens  watered  by  rivers,  therein  shall  they  remain 
for  ever. 

And  ye  are  also  allowed  to  marry  free  women,  living  chastely 
with  them  neither  committing  fornication,  nor  taking  them  for 
concubines;  observe  justice  when  ye  appear  as  witnesses,  and 
let  not  hatred  towards  any  induce  you  to  do  wrong,  but  act 
justly;  the  Lord  renders  the  reward  of  their  works. 

Show  kindness  unto  your  parents,  whether  the  one  of  them 
or  both  of  them  attain  to  old  age  with  thee,  speak  respectfully 
unto  them;  and  submit  to  behave  humbly  towards  them,  out 
of  tender  affection. 

Give  unto  him  who  is  of  kin  to  you  his  due,  and  also  unto 
the  poor  and  the  traveller.  And  waste  not  thy  substance  pro- 


Buddhism  331 

fusely;  let  not  thy  hand  be  tied  up  to  thy  neck;  neither  open 
it  with  an  unbounded  expansion,  lest  thou  become  worthy  of 
reprehension  and  be  reduced  to  poverty. 

Draw  not  near  unto  fornication;  for  it  is  wickedness,  and  an 
evil  way. 

Meddle  not  with  the  substance  of  the  orphan,  unless  it  be  to 
improve  it.  Perform  your  covenant.  And  give  full  measure, 
when  you  measure  aught;  and  weigh  with  a  just  balance. 

Walk  not  proudly  in  the  land. 

Whosoever  resigneth  himself  unto  God,  being  a  worker  of 
righteousness,  taketh  hold  on  a  strong  handle;  and  unto  God 
belongeth  the  issue  of  all  things. 

Whosoever  desireth  excellence,  unto  God  doth  all  excel- 
lence belong;  unto  Him  ascendeth  the  good  speech;  and  the 
righteous  work  will  He  exalt. 

Those  who  believe,  and  put  their  trust  in  their  Lord ;  and  who 
avoid  heinous  and  filthy  crimes,  and  when  they  are  angry  for- 
give; and  who  give  alms. 

He  who  forgiveth,  and  is  reconciled  unto  his  enemy,  shall 
receive  his  reward. 

Let  not  men  laugh  other  men  to  scorn,  who  peradventure 
may  be  better  than  themselves  ;  neither  let  women  laugh  other 
women  to  scorn,  who  may  possibly  be  better  than  themselves. 
Neither  defame  one  another;  nor  call  one  another  by  oppro- 
brious appellations. 

Verily  the  hypocrites  are  those  who  act  wickedly. 

Consume  not  your  wealth  among  yourselves  in  vain;  nor 
present  it  unto  judges,  that  ye  may  devour  part  of  men's  sub- 
stance unjustly,  against  your  own  consciences. 

BUDDHISM 

The  foresight  of  the  great  founder  of  this  system  was  just- 
ified by  its  prodigious,  its  unparallelled,  its  enduring  success — 
a  success  that  rested  on  the  assertion  of  the  dogma  of  the 
absolute  equality  of  all  men,  and  this  in  a  country  that  for 
ages  had  been  oppressed  by  castes. 

Buddhism  arose  about  the  tenth  century  before  Christ,  its 


332         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

founder  being  Arddha  Chiddi,  a  native  of  Capila,  near  Nepaul, 
1000  B.  c.  The  Sanskrit  words  occurring  in  Buddhism  attest 
its  Hindu  origin,  "  Buddha  "  itself  being  Sanskrit  for  "  intelli- 
gence." After  the  system  had  spread  widely  in  India,  it  was 
carried  by  missionaries  into  Ceylon,  Tartary,  Thibet,  China, 
Japan,  Burmah,  and  is  now  professed  by  a  greater  portion  of 
the  human  race  than  any  other  system  of  theology.  Until 
quite  recently  the  history  of  Arddha  Chiddi  and  the  system 
he  taught  have,  notwithstanding  their  singular  interest,  been 
very  imperfectly  known  in  Europe.  He  was  born  in  affluence 
and  of  a  royal  family.  In  his  twenty-ninth  year  he  retired 
from  the  world,  the  pleasures  of  which  he  had  tasted  and  of 
which  he  had  become  weary.  Leaving  his  numerous  wives, 
he  became  a  religious  mendicant.  Profoundly  impressed  with 
the  vanity  of  human  affairs,  he  devoted  himself  to  philosophi- 
cal meditation,  by  severe  self-denial  emancipating  himself 
from  all  worldly  hopes  and  cares.  For  the  name  by  which 
his  parents  had  called  him,  he  substituted  that  of  Gotama,  or 
"he  who  kills  the  senses."  It  is  claimed  that  Gotama  was 
born  under  the  shade  of  a  tree,  and  that  he  overcame  the  love 
of  the  world  and  the  fear  of  death;  under  the  shade  of  a  tree 
he  preached  his  first  sermon  in  a  shroud,  and  under  the  shade 
of  a  tree  he  died. 

In  four  months  after  he  commenced  his  ministry,  he  had 
five  disciples;  at  the  close  of  the  year  they  had  increased  to 
twelve  hundred.  In  the  twenty-nine  centuries  that  have 
passed,  since  that  time,  they  have  given  rise  to  sects  count- 
ing millions  of  souls,  outnumbering  the  followers  of  all  other 
religious  teachers.  The  system  still  seems  to  retain  much 
of  its  pristine  vigour  ;  yet  so  much  of  all  the  systems  of 
worship  as  consists  of  creeds  and  theologies,  gotten  up  by 
particular  men,  is  perishable.  The  religion  given  by  God 
to  all  men  alone  endureth.  Gotama  died  at  the  advanced  age 
of  eighty  years;  his  corpse  was  burnt  eight  days  subsequently. 

But  several  years  before  this  event  his  system  must  be  con- 
sidered as  thoroughly  established.  It  shows  how  little  depends 
upon  the  nature  of  a  doctrine,  and  how  much  upon  effective 
organisation,  that  Buddhism,  the  principles  of  which  are  far 


Buddhism  333 

above  the  reach  of  popular-thought,  should  have  been  propag- 
ated with  so  much  rapidity,  for  it  made  converts  by  preach- 
ing, and  not,  like  Mohammedanism,  by  the  sword. 

Shortly  after  Gotama's  death,  a  council  of  five  hundred 
ecclesiastics  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  settling  the  doctrine. 
A  century  later,  a  second  council  met  to  regulate  the  monastic 
institution.  In  proclaiming  the  equality  of  all  men  in  this 
life,  the  Buddhists,  as  we  have  seen,  came  into  direct  collision 
with  the  orthodox  creed  of  India,  long  carried  out  into  practice 
in  the  institution  of  castes — a  collision  that  was  embittered 
by  the  abhorrence  the  Buddhists  displayed  for  any  distinction 
between  the  clergy  and  laity. 

The  fundamental  principle  of  Buddhism  is  that  there  is  a 
supreme  impelling  Power  in  the  universe,  a  self-existent  princi- 
ple; it  rejects  inquiry  into  first  causes  as  being  unphilosophical, 
and  considers  that  phenomena  alone  can  be  dealt  with  by  our 
finite  minds. 

The  Buddhist  denies  the  immediate  interposition  of  any  such 
agency  as  Providence,  maintaining  that  the  system  of  nature, 
once  arising,  must  proceed  irresistibly  according  to  the  laws 
which  brought  it  into  being.  To  the  Brahman  priesthood 
such  ideas  were  particularly  obnoxious;  they  were  hostile  to 
any  philosophical  system  founded  on  the  principle  that  the 
world  is  governed  by  law,  for  they  suspected  that  its  tendency 
would  be  to  leave  them  without  any  mediatory  functions,  and 
therefore  without  any  claims  on  the  faithful.  Equally  does 
Gotama  deny  the  existence  of  chance,  saying  that  that  which 
we  call  chance  is  nothing  but  the  effect  of  an  unknown,  un- 
avoidable cause. 

He  will  not,  however,  recognise  any  vicarious  action.  Each 
one  must  work  out  for  himself  his  own  salvation. 

The  philosophical  ability  displayed  in  the  Buddhistic  creeds 
is  very  great;  indeed,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  Europe  has 
produced  its  metaphysical  equivalent. 

In  its  early  ages,  Buddhism  had  its  fables,  legends,  and 
miracles.  Its  humble  devotees  implicitly  believed  that  Mo- 
hamaia,  the  mother  of  Gotama,  an  immaculate  virgin,  con- 
ceived him  through  a  Divine  influence,  and  that  thus  he  was 


334         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

of  the  nature  of  God  and  man  conjoined;  that  he  stood  upon 
his  feet  and  spoke  at  the  moment  of  his  birth;  that  at  five 
months  of  age  he  sat  unsupported  in  the  air;  that  at  the 
moment  of  his  conversion  he  was  attacked  by  a  legion  of 
demons,  and  that  in  his  penance-fasting  he  reduced  himself 
to  the  allowance  of  one  pepper-pod  a  day;  that  he  had  been 
incarnate  many  times  before,  and  that  on  his  ascension  through 
the  air  to  heaven  he  left  his  footprints  on  a  mountain  in  Ceylon 
which  is  to  be  worshipped;  that  there  is  a  paradise  of  gems, 
and  flowers,  and  feasts,  and  music  for  the  good,  and  a  hell  of 
sulphur,  and  flames,  and  torment  for  the  wicked;  that  it  is 
lawful  to  resort  to  the  worship  of  images,  that  there  are  spirits, 
and  goblins,  and  other  superhuman  forms,  that  there  is  a 
queen  of  heaven;  that  the  reading  of  the  scriptures  is  in  itself 
an  actual  merit,  whether  their  precepts  are  followed  or  not; 
that  prayer  may  be  offered  by  saying  a  formula  by  rote,  or 
even  by  turning  the  handle  of  a  mill  from  which  invocations 
written  on  paper  issue  forth;  that  the  revealer  of  Buddhism  is 
to  be  regarded  as  the  religious  head  of  the  world. 

He  alone  who  flees  to  Buddha,  who  clings  to  doctrine  and 
the  Church — he  will  understand  right  purely  and  clearly  the 
fourfold  lofty  truth. 

The  reader  cannot  fail  to  mark  the  resemblance  of  these 
ideas  to  some  of  those  of  the  Roman  Church. 

Decorated  with  these  extraneous  but  popular  recommend- 
ations, Buddhism  has  been  embraced  by  four  tenths  of  the 
human  race.  It  has  a  prodigious  literature,  great  temples, 
and  many  monuments.  Its  monasteries  are  scattered  from  the 
north  of  Tartary  almost  to  the  equinoctial  line.  In  these  an 
education  is  imparted  not  unlike  that  of  the  European  monas- 
teries of  the  Middle  Ages.  It  has  been  estimated  that  in 
Tartary  one  third  of  the  population  are  Lamas.  There  are 
single  convents  containing  more  than  two  thousand  indi- 
viduals; the  wealth  the  country  voluntarily  pours  into  them. 
Elementary  education  is  more  widely  diffused  than  in  Europe. 
It  is  rare  to  meet  with  a  person  who  cannot  read.  Among  the 
priests  there  are  many  who  are  devout,  and,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, many  who  are  impostors.  The  result  is  that  under 


Buddhism  335 

the  extensive  education -and  information  that  prevails  through- 
out these  countries,  the  creeds  and  theologies  based  upon 
their  early  fables,  legends,  and  miracles  are  verging  into  in- 
difference with  the  masses,  as  is  the  case  among  the  educated 
in  Christian  countries. 

The  formula  under  which  they  live  is,  "  That  creeds  and 
theologies  are  many.  The  Religion  of  Brotherhood  is  one; 
we  are  Brothers." 

They  smile  at  the  credulity  of  the  good-natured  Tartars, 
who  believe  in  the  wonders  of  miracle-workers,  for  they  have 
miracle-workers,  who  can  perform  the  most  supernatural 
cures,  who  can  lick  red-hot  iron,  who  can  cut  open  their 
bowels  and  by  passing  their  hand  over  the  wound  make 
themselves  whole  again,  who  can  raise  the  dead.  In  China, 
these  miracles,  with  all  their  authentications,  have  descended 
to  the  conjurer,  and  are  performed  for  the  amusement  of 
children. 

According  to  the  most  credible  of  the  accounts  that  have 
come  down  to  us  we  find  in  the  founder  of  the  theology  of 
India  a  character  so  noble,  self-sacrificing,  and  overflowing 
with  brotherly  love,  combined  at  the  same  time  with  such 
sobriety  in  his  mode  of  action  that  any  idea  of  either  impost- 
ure or  insanity  in  his  case  is  utterly  inadmissible. 

Of  the  Buddhistic  writings  that  have  appeared  since  the 
time  of  Burnouf,  either  in  the  original  text  or  in  translations, 
the  most  important  is  the  text  of  the  oldest  Pali  book,  which 
is  also  regarded  by  all  parties  among  the  Buddhists  as  the 
highest  authority,  the  Dhamapadam,  or  "  Footprints  of  the 
Law,"  which  is  a  collection  of  aphorisms.  These,  as  well  as 
Westergard's  labours,  we  owe  to  the  praiseworthy  encourage- 
ment of  the  Danish  government. 

We  give  the  following,  selected  from  THE  THREE  THOUSAND 
BUDDHA  PROVERBS: 

Though  a  thousand  words  should  range  themselves  in  the 
empty  swell  of  thy  speech, 

Far  better  is  one  speech  full  of  meaning  that  shall  give  one 
man  rest. 


336         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Though  a  thousand  words  the  hymn  should  number  in  the 
empty  swell  of  thy  words, 

Far  better  is  a  single  word  that  shall  bring  rest  to  one  man. 

He  who  should  conquer  in  battle  ten  times  a  hundred 
thousand  were  indeed  a  hero; 

But  truly  a  greater  hero  is  he  who  has  but  once  conquered 
himself. 

To  conquer  one's  self  is  a  greater  victory  than  to  gain  a 
battle: 

The  victory  of  him  who  tames  himself,  who  at  all  times 
knows  how  to  rule  himself, 

Neither  God  nor  Gandava,  neither  Mara  nor  yet  Brahma, 
can  frustrate  such  a  victory,  obtained  by  such  a  man. 

Though  one  should  offer  a  thousand  sacrifices  every  month, 
and  offer  them  for  a  hundred  years. 

He  who  for  only  one  moment  contemplates  himself  in  utter 
repose, — that  is  repose  of  conscience, — he  has  performed  a 
better  act  of  devotion  than  by  a  hundred  years'  sacrifices. 

And  though  one  should  keep  the  sacred  flame  alight  for  a 
hundred  years  in  a  forest, 

He  who  for  only  one  moment  contemplates  himself  in  utter 
repose, — 

His  one  act  of  devotion  is  better  than  a  hundred  years' 
sacrifices. 

Whatever  sacrifices  the  whole  world  might  offer  in  a  year; 

Whatever  sacrifice  any  might  offer  in  the  hope  of  reward; 

That  all  is  not  worth  one  quarter  so  much  as  he  who  cher- 
ishes reverence  for  the  virtuous. 

He  who  cherishes  reverence  in  his  heart,  and  ever  honours 
his  superiors,  to  him  shall  be  ever  added  these  four  gifts: 

Long  Life,  Beauty,  Joy,  Power. 

He  who  lives  in  lust  for  a  hundred  years,  ever  unquiet  in 
his  heart, 

Much  better  is  a  single  day  of  a  temperate  thoughtful  life. 

He  who  lives  in  folly  for  a  hundred  years,  ever  restless, 

Much  better  is  a  single  day  of  meditation  upon  wisdom. 

He  who  lives  a  hundred  years,  faint-heartedly,  without  en- 
ergy of  mind, 


Buddhism  337 

Much  better  is  a  single  day  used  with  firm  will  and  energy. 

He  who  lives  a  hundred  years,  not  reflecting  on  the  origin 
and  end  of  life, 

Much  better  is  a  single  day  of  him  who  marks  its  origin  and 
end. 

He  who  lives  a  hundred  years,  and  does  not  behold  the  path 
to  immortality, 

Much  better  is  a  single  day  of  him  who  descries  that  path. 

He  who  lives  a  hundred  years  and  never  discerns  the  lofti- 
ness of  the  Law, 

Much  better  is  a  single  day  of  him  who  beholds  the  heights 
of  that  same. 

He  who  is  invincible,  whom  no  one  in  this  world  has  power 
to  restrain; 

Buddha,  whose  glance  explores  the  Infinite; 

Buddha,  the  Trackless,  what  track  shall  lead  you  to  behold 
him  ? 

He  whom  no  lust  can  ensnare,  whom  none  can  allure  to  his 
soul's  poison. 

The  gods  themselves  envy  those  who  never  grow  faint  and 
weary  of  heart, 

But  rejoice  in  continual  repose,  full  of  remembrance  the 
enlightened  one's. 

Man's  birth  is  full  of  trouble,  and  full  of  toil  is  his  life  also. 

Toilsome  it  is  to  hearken  to  true  teaching,  very  toilsome  is 
the  beginning  of  true  enlightenment. 

Not  to  do  evil,  to  leave  nothing  good  undone,  to  keep  the 
course  of  our  thought  ever  pure: 

This  is  commanded  to  Buddhas. 

The  best  prayer  is  patience,  ever  gentle. 

To  Buddhas  Nirvana  is  the  name  of  that  which  is  alone 
good. 

No  tamer  of  his  senses  will  he  become  who  smites  another  ; 

No  penitent  he  who  does  harm  to  his  neighbour. 

To  refrain  at  all  times  from  angry  words,  and  never  to  do 
another  injury; 

To  observe  temperance  in  eating  and  in  sleeping  on  a  lonely 
couch; 


338         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

To  live  in  profoundest  meditation,  lo!  this  is  enjoined  on 
the  Buddhas. 

A  shower  of  wealth  will  not  suffice  to  our  desires;  little  joy 
will  covetous  desires  bring  thee,  but  many  sorrows,  and  wise  is 
he  who  understands  this. 

Not  even  revelling  with  the  gods  will  give  joy  to  a  truly 
wise  man. 

He  who  is  truly  wise,  rejoices  only  in  this,  that  desire  is 
dead  within  him. 

Men  who  are  still  enslaved  to  fear  seek  many  ways  of  refuge. 

They  flee  to  mountain  and  forest,  and  resort  for  shelter  to 
sacred  trees. 

But  that  is  no  sure  sanctuary,  the  highest  refuge  it  never  is. 

Never  will  that  man  be  freed  from  pain  who  chooses  such 
for  his  refuge. 

He  who  dutifully  honours  the  men  that  are  of  quiet  spirit 
and  without  fear: 

That  is  verily  a  good  work,  that  can  never  be  too  highly 
esteemed. 

He  who  has  put  off  sin  is  called  good. 

He  who  leads  a  silent  life; 

He  who  is  free  from  self-love  is  called  a  tamer  of  the  senses. 

He  whose  body,  words,  and  heart  are  altogether  without 
sin;  he  who  holds  these  three  in  rein,  yea,  him  do  I  call  good. 

He  who  has  discerned  the  true  meaning  of  the  law  of  piety; 

Let  him  reverence  it  evermore. 

What  will  jewelled  hair  profit  thee,  O  fool,  or  garments  set 
with  costly  fur  ? 

Unclean  hast  thou  left  thy  heart,  while  decking  thy  outside. 

He  who  has  burst  all  fetters  and  trembles  before  nothing, 
the  unshackled,  the  truly  free,  him  do  I  call  wise. 

The  sage  whose  clear  vision  beholds  high  things,  discerning 
the  true  path  and  the  false  path, 

Who  has  climbed  to  the  heights  of  all  things,  him  do  I  call 
a  Brahmana. 

He  who  will  not  punish  a  beast  that  is  weak,  who  will  not 
strike  or  suffer  others  to  strike  one  that  is  strong,  him  do  I 
call  a  Brahmana. 


Buddhism  339 

He  who  when  assailed  does  not  resist,  but  speaks  mildly  to 
his  tormentors; 

He  who  grudges  nothing  to  those  who  grudge  him  all,  him 
alone  I  call  a  Brahmana. 

He  who  has  put  from  him  desire  and  hatred,  pride  and 
hypocrisy; 

As  a  grain  that  flies  from  the  point  of  an  arrow,  him  do  I 
call  a  Brahmana. 

He  whose  speech  is  gentle,  truthful,  and  ever  instructive; 

He  who  never  utters  a  harsh  word,  him  only  do  I  call  a 
Brahmana. 

He  who  strives  not  to  obtain  aught  for  himself,  who  never 
doubts  after  he  has  once  perceived  the  truth,  he  who  has  come 
to  know  immortality,  him  alone  do  I  call  a  Brahmana. 

He  who  is  pure  as  the  moon,  whose  even  spirit  naught  can 
ruffle,  who  has  quenched  all  lusts,  him  do  I  call  a  Brahmana. 

He  who  has  cast  behind  him  all  lusts,  and  wanders  harmless 
abroad; 

He  who  has  quenched  his  lusts,  him  only  do  I  call  a  Brah- 
mana. 

The  Noble  one,  standing  like  a  stately  bull,  the  Hero,  the 
Seer,  free  from  all  lust,  the  Pure,  the  Wise,  him  only  do  I  call 
a  Brahmana. 

The  whole  life  and  labours  of  this  wonderful  man  are  in 
perfect  harmony.  He  did  not  enter  into  open  hostility  with 
the  established  religion,  as  regards  the  ancient  rites  connected 
with  the  worship  of  fire. 

Buddha  prescribes  to  every  disciple  and  follower  certain 
initial  commands,  of  which  four  are  purely  ethical,  and  the 
fifth  a  perfectly  general  injunction  to  temperance.  Here  is 
the  text: 

I.  Not  to  kill  that  which  has  life. 
II.  Not  to  steal. 

III.  Not  to  commit  any  unchaste  act. 

IV.  Not  to  lie. 

V.  To  drink  no  intoxicating  liquor. 
Only  in  later  times  were  these  expanded  into  ten,  and  then 


340         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

into  fifteen  commandments,  by  the  addition  of  precepts  about 
externals.  That  he  did  not  wish  to  have  the  third  com- 
mandment obeyed  after  the  fashion  of  Origen  is  shown 
by  a  fine  saying  forming  the  twenty-ninth  of  his  forty-two 
Theses. 

"  If  the  spirit,  which  is  the  master,  be  kept  under  control, 
it  follows  of  itself  that  his  servants  will  also  be  restrained. 
What  does  it  avail  if  the  power,  but  not  the  wish,  to  do  wrong 
be  vanquished  ?  " 

How  strongly  he  was  opposed  to  bodily  austerities  is  proved 
by  this  sentence  in  his  first  sermon  : 

"  He  who  desires  to  become  an  object  of  respect  (Arya) 
must  beware  of  two  things,  of  sinful  lusts,  and  of  the  bodily 
austerities  of  the  Brahmans." 

Unregenerated,  isolated,  is  every  one  who  remains  subject 
to  his  desires,  whether  he  be  a  laymen  or  an  Arya.  The  old- 
est comprehensive  formula  of  the  Buddhist  faith,  which  has 
been  found  under  an  ancient  Buddha  pyramid  in  India,  in 
innumerable  inscriptions,  and  which  regularly  forms  the  con- 
clusion of  the  sacred  books,  and  in  Ceylon,  as  well  as  in  Bur- 
mah  and  Thibet,  all,  even  women  and  children,  know  by  heart, 
is  this  : 

"  The  states  of  all  beings  which  proceed  from  a  cause,  the 
cause  thereof  has  the  Blessed  One  declared;  what  can  heal 
these  states  has  the  Hermit  also  declared." 

What  we  have  translated  States  or  Conditions  is  called  in 
Sanskrit,  Dharma;  in  Pali,  Dhamma;  and  signifies  originally 
Law,  Duty;  and  in  a  secondary  sense,  that  which  exists  as 
a  legitimate,  necessary  consequence  of  a  cause;  hence,  a  con- 
dition of  being.  If  we  ponder  this  simple  aphorism  we  see 
that  it  involves  the  "  four  venerable  Truths,"  which  form  the 
substratum,  laid  by  Buddha's  own  hand,  of  the  later  meta- 
physical erections  : 

Existence  is  suffering  (pain). 

Suffering  is  seen  to  be  the  necessary  consequence  of  causes. 

To  this  suffering  an  end  ought  to  be  put. 

To  this  end  there  is  a  means,  and  this  also  has  Buddha 
taught. 


Buddhism  34* 

The  Sutra  of  the  Forty-two  Sayings  of  Buddha 

There  are  ten  modes  in  which  men  may  practise  virtue,  or 
contrariwise,  vice.  Of  these  ten  vices,  three  have  reference 
to  the  body,  four  to  the  speech,  three  to  the  mind.  The  three 
vices  of  the  body  are:  murder,  theft,  and  unchastity.  Those 
of  speech  are:  lying,  talking  nonsense,  harsh  words,  false  wit- 
ness; of  the  mind:  avarice,  malice,  stupid  unbelief  in  the 
three  precious  truths,  together  with  the  cherishing  of  false 
opinions. 

When  men  have  done  many  wrong  things  without  feeling 
repentance,  the  fruit  of  the  evil  that  they  have  gradually 
heaped  together  in  themselves  will  come  to  ripeness;  just  as 
rivers  which  are  about  to  discharge  themselves  into  the  mighty 
ocean,  and  are  already  deep,  spread  themselves  out  wide  so 
that  they  can  with  difficulty  be  crossed.  In  men  who  perceive 
when  they  have  done  wrong  and  then  reform,  the  laws  of 
virtue  gather  strength,  and  evil  subsides  more  and  more,  so 
that  they  are  able  to  come  to  the  way  of  perfectness. 

When  wicked  men  would  fain  do  injury  to  good  ones,  it  is 
as  though  they  cast  forth  their  spittle  against  heaven.  Heaven 
cannot  be  defiled  by  their  spittle,  but  only  themselves.  In 
like  manner,  as  when  one  tries  to  throw  ashes  upon  another 
against  the  wind,  and  the  dust  cannot  reach  the  other,  but 
falls  back  on  him  who  throws  it,  so  is  he  who  shows  no  honour 
to  the  good  himself  degraded  by  the  fact  that  he  wished  to 
injure  a  good  man. 

In  the  world  there  are  twenty  things  which  are  difficult,  viz.: 
it  is  difficult  to  confer  a  gift  when  one  is  poor;  difficult  to 
learn  the  Way  (the  true  religion  of  Buddha)  when  one  is  rich; 
difficult  to  renounce  life  through  the  power  of  the  Spirit;  diffi- 
cult to  descry  the  law  of  the  excellent  doctrine;  difficult  to  be 
born  again  in  the  region  where  true  Buddhas  come  into  being; 
difficult  to  have  no  desire  when  one  has  looked  on  something 
pleasant;  difficult  it  is  for  the  powerful  not  to  make  use  of  his 
power;  difficult  not  to  be  angry  with  those  who  revile  us;  diffi- 
cult to  set  about  a  work  when  one  has  no  clear  idea  of  it; 
difficult  to  arrive  at  perfection,  even  when  one  has  learned 


342          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

much  about  it;  difficult  not  to  despise  those  who  have  learnt 
nothing;  difficult  to  conquer  self-seeking  pride;  difficult  to 
meet  with  a  friend  of  virtue;  difficult  to  learn  the  Way,  when 
one  knows  the  self-will  of  one's  own  heart;  difficult  to  sustain 
a  collision  unmoved;  difficult  to  put  in  practice  the  means 
conformable  to  wisdom;  difficult  to  act  in  consonance  with 
nature;  difficult  to  attain  to  equanimity;  difficult  not  to  speak 
of  that  which  has  to  be  done  and  to  be  avoided. 

What  is  the  highest  virtue  ?  To  keep  one's  feet  in  the  Way 
is  the  highest  virtue.  What  is  the  chief  greatness  ?  To  act 
in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  wisdom  is  the  chief  greatness. 
Who  is  the  chief  of  the  powerful  ?  He  who,  while  he  himself 
is  full  of  toleration,  commits  no  sinful  act,  men  will  assuredly 
honour.  Who  is  pre-eminently  enlightened  ?  He  who  is  with- 
out spot  and  pure,  has  no  unrighteous  courses,  is  wholly  clean, 
and  who  knows  in  every  age,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world 
till  now,  all  that  is  to  be  found  in  all  the  ten  regions,  though 
it  be  unknown,  invisible,  quite  unnoticed  and  unheard,  with- 
out desiring  the  least  thing  for  himself;  such  an  one  is  to  be 
called  enlightened. 

A  being  whose  soul  is  affected  by  passion  cannot  perceive 
the  Way  for  his  blinded  eyes.  If  you  throw  five  different 
colours  into  turbid  waters,  and  then  stir  them  up  together,  the 
persons  who  look  therein  will  be  unable  to  discern  the  reflec- 
tion of  their  bodies.  Just  so,  those  whose  souls  are  agitated 
and  obscured  by  passion  are  unable  to  discern  the  Way. 
Those,  on  the  contrary,  who,  full  of  faith,  confess  the  whole 
string  of  their  faults,  improve  their  ways,  and  show  kindness 
to  the  friends  of  virtue  will  discern  the  Way,  just  as  a  reflec- 
tion becomes  visible  in  water,  so  soon  as  it  is  cleansed  from 
impurities.  When  the  spots  of  the  soul  are  wholly  cleansed 
away,  apprehension  discovers  whence  she  has  come,  and  how 
she  has  arisen,  and  toward  what  fields  of  Buddha  she  will 
travel  after  death,  and  at  the  same  time  she  comes  to  perceive 
the  virtues  of  the  Way. 

When  we  gaze  on  the  sky  and  the  earth,  we  ought  to  reflect 
that  they  are  not  eternal.  When  we  behold  the  hills  and  val- 
leys, we  ought  to  remember  that  they  are  not  eternal.  When 


Buddhism  343 

we  see  the  form  and  figure  of  objects  increase  and  expand, 
we  ought  to  reflect  that  they  are  not  eternal.  If  we  think 
thus,  we  shall  soon  reach  the  Way. 

Although  we  attribute  being  to  the  elementary  components 
of  the  body,  yet  have  they  nevertheless  no  real  subsistence. 
For  since  their  being  ceases  after  a  short  time,  and  does  not 
endure  for  ever,  they  are  like  illusory  semblances. 

It  is  with  those  beings  who,  impelled  by  passion,  strive  after 
glory,  even  as  it  is  with  the  vapour  of  a  smoker.  When  the 
vapour  of  the  tobacco  is  perceived  and  diffused  abroad,  it 
cannot  continue  to  subsist  after  the  tobacco  is  consumed.  So 
will  those  foolish  persons  who  strive  after  the  vain  glory  of  the 
world,  and  do  not  labour  to  win  the  true  glory,  when  they  have 
obtained  that  which  they  seek  for,  be  poor  and  a  prey  to 
regrets. 

Beauty  and  wealth  are  like  honey  on  the  edge  of  a  knife. 
When  little  boys  taste  it,  they  wound  their  tongue  and  feel  pain. 

He  who  yields  himself  to  passion  is  like  a  fool  who  takes  a 
candle  and  walks  against  the  wind.  Unless  he  throw  the 
candle  away  he  will  assuredly  surfer  smart  by  his  hand  being 
burnt.  He  who  surfers  himself  to  be  carried  away  by  lust,  by 
anger,  or  by  illusion,  is,  forasmuch  as  he  has  not  been  before- 
hand enlightened  by  the  Way,  like  unto  those  fools  who,  re- 
fusing to  throw  away  their  candle,  burn  their  hands  and  suffer 
severe  pain. 

As  a  tree  that  has  fallen  into  a  river,  if  when  swept  by  the 
current  it  does  not  touch  either  shore,  if  it  be  not  caught  up 
by  men,  or  stopped  in  its  course  by  good,  or  evil  spirits,  if 
moreover  it  do  not  lie  in  a  stagnant  pool,  and  do  not  decay, 
may  actually  come  to  reach  the  ocean  ;  even  so  I  tell  you,  that 
men  who,  if  they  learn  the  Way,  are  not  befooled  by  passion, 
nor  seized  by  perverseness,  who  do  not  become  unstable,  but 
strive  with  earnestness,  of  a  truth  may  attain  the  Way. 

O  Shramana  !  trust  not  in  your  own  hearts.  We  must  in  no 
wise  trust  to  our  own  hearts.  Exercise  watchfulness  ;  do  not 
be  ensnared  by  beauty,  else  it  will  bring  you  sorrow.  You  must 
regard  an  old  woman  as  a  mother,  those  only  a  little  older  than 
yourself  as  elder  sisters,  those  younger  as  younger  sisters. 


344         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

As  one  must  run  away  with  all  speed  if  flame  be  kindled 
among  dry  grass,  so  must  men  who  would  learn  the  Way  cast 
far  away  from  them  all  objects  calculated  to  excite  passion. 

If  a  man  surrender  himself  to  passion,  it  brings  pain,  and 
pain  brings  fear.  If  passion  remain  far  from  him,  no  pain 
springs  up  ;  and  if  no  pain,  no  fear. 

As  iron  when  it  has  been  smelted  and  purified,  gradually 
wrought  and  refined  by  hammering,  may  be  converted  into  all 
sorts  of  vessels,  so  also  will  those  who  are  learning  the  Way,  if 
their  mind  is  gradually  freed  from  all  impurity,  and  if  they 
sedulously  exert  themselves,  no  doubt  attain  to  perfect  insight. 
In  the  contrary  case,  they  earn  to  themselves  vexation  ;  from 
vexation  springs  tribulation,  and  under  sharp  tribulation  they 
turn  back  from  the  Way  ;  thus  do  they  heap  sinful  actions  one 
upon  another. 

Both  the  men  who  walk  in  the  Way,  and  those  who  do  not 
so,  alike  experience  sorrow.  It  is  indeed  hard  to  measure 
how  much  suffering  a  being  has  to  undergo  from  birth  to  old 
age,  and  then  in  old  age  from  sickness  till  his  death.  But  if 
the  mind  be  bewildered  through  trouble,  and  have  heaped  sin- 
ful acts  upon  itself,  then  the  sufferings  that  will  befall  him  on 
account  of  all  that  he  has  done  from  his  birth  to  his  death 
cannot  be  put  in  words. 

O  Shramanas  !  as  a  laden  ox  that  has  fallen  into  a  slough  in 
spite  of  all  weariness  struggles  out  to  one  or  the  other  side 
without  ever  thinking  of  rest,  so  must  a  right-minded  man  labour 
for  nothing  but  the  Way  —  seeing  that  the  danger  arising  from 
the  slough  of  passion  is  much  more  urgent  —  and  avert  from 
himself  the  pain  of  the  cycle  [thus  the  "  cycle  "  must  be  in 
this  life]. 

Originally  Buddhism  was  simple,  ethical,  and  rational  ;  and 
hence  hostile  to  mythology,  scholasticism,  ceremonies,  and 
priestcraft.  It  was  benevolent  and  humane  in  the  highest 
degree.  It  called  all  men  without  any  distinction  of  quality 
or  position  to  its  fold,  opening  to  all  the  way  of  salvation, 
which  it  teaches  to  be  attainable  by  purity  of  conduct.  "  There 
is  but  one  law  for  all  :  severe  punishment  for  crime,  and  great 


The  Burmese  345 

reward  for  virtue."  "  My  law  is  one  of  grace  for  all ;  like 
heaven  affording  room  for  men  and  women,  for  boys  and  girls, 
for  rich  and  poor."  "  It  is  difficult  to  be  rich  and  learn  the 
Way."  The  total  number  of  Buddhists  is  about  290,000,000. 

Right  view,  right  sense,  right  speech,  right  action,  right 
position,  right  energy,  right  memory,  and  right  meditation, — 
"  such  is  the  formula  of  faith,"  found  upon  many  monuments 
as  well  as  in  many  books.  The  essence  of  Buddhistic  moral- 
ity is,  "  to  eschew  everything  bad,  to  perform  everything 
good,  to  tame  one's  thoughts"  —  this  is  the  doctrine  of 
Buddha. 

All  the  mythology,  sacrifices,  penances,  hierarchy,  scholas- 
ticism, mysticism,  which  we  find  connected  with  it  have  been 
superadded  in  progress  of  time  in  different  countries  and  un- 
der manifold  circumstances.  A  general  love  of  all  beings  is 
its  nucleus;  each  animal  being  our  neighbour  or  possible  relat- 
ive. To  love  even  our  enemies,  to  offer  our  lives  for  animals, 
to  abstain  even  from  defensive  warfare,  to  gain  the  greatest  of 
victories  by  conquering  oneself,  to  avoid  all  vices,  to  practise 
humility  and  mildness,  to  be  obedient  to  superiors,  to  cherish 
and  respect  parents,  old  age,  learning,  virtuous  and  holy  men,  to 
provide  food,  shelter,  and  comfort  for  men  and  animals,  to  plant 
trees  on  the  roads,  dig  wells,  etc., — such  are  the  moral  duties 
of  Buddhists.  No  religion  is  despised  by  them,  religious  wars 
waged  against  dissenters  have  never  been  heard  of  among 
them.  "  Honour  your  own  faith  and  do  not  slander  that  of 
others  "  is  a  Buddhistic  maxim.  The  persecutions  of  Christ- 
ians in  Japan,  China,  Siam,  etc.,  are  occasioned  by  other  than 
religious  causes,  being  commonly  reprisals  against  their  inter- 
meddling habits.  How  different  from  the  history  of  Christ- 
ianity. 

THE  BURMESE 

The  following  contains  the  main  features  of  the  theology 
and  religious  precepts  which  have  been  taught  among  the 
Burmese  for  the  last  twenty-five  hundred  years. 

The  Burmese  Empire  comprises  the  tract  of  territory 
bounded  on  the  south  by  the  Indian  Ocean,  on  the  east 


346         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

by  the  kingdom  of  Siam,  on  the  west  by  Bengal,  and  on  the 
north  by  the  kingdom  of  Azen  and  the  Chinese  Empire.  It 
includes  not  only  the  kingdom  of  Ava,  but  likewise  those  of 
Pegu  and  Aracan,  together  with  the  petty  states  of  Martaban, 
Sarvai,  Merghi. 

According  to  the  sacred  books  and  traditions  of  the  Bur- 
mese four  gods  have  at  different  periods  appeared  in  the  pre- 
sent world,  and  have  obtained  the  state  of  Niban:  Chaucasen, 
Gonagon,  Caspar,  and  Godama.  It  is  claimed  by  the  Bur- 
mese theology  that  the  law  of  the  last-mentioned  (to  wit, 
Godama)  is  at  present  obligatory  among  men.  He  obtained 
the  privilege  of  divinity  at  the  age  of  thirty-five,  when  he  be- 
gan to  promulgate  his  laws,  in  which  employment  he  spent 
forty-five  years.  Having  thus  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty  in  the 
practice  of  every  good  work,  and  having  conferred  salvation 
on  every  living  creature,  he  was  assumed  into  the  state  of  Ni- 
ban. From  that  time  until  the  year  1763  there  have  passed 
two  thousand  three  hundred  and  six  years. 

Godama  spoke  and  taught  as  follows:  "  I,  a  god,  after  hav- 
ing departed  out  of  this  world,  will  preserve  my  laws  and  my 
disciples  in  it  for  the  space  of  five  thousand  years."  Having 
likewise  commanded  that  his  statue  and  relics  should  be  care- 
fully kept  and  adored  during  this  period,  he  thereby  gave  rise 
to  the  custom  of  adoring  them. 

The  books  which  contain  the  history  of  Godama  represent 
him  as  a  king,  who  having  laid  aside  the  ensigns  of  royalty, 
withdrew  himself  into  a  solitary  place,  put  on  the  habit  of 
a  Talapoin,  and  gave  himself  up  to  the  study  and  practice 
of  virtue. 

His  merits,  united  to  his  generous  abdication,  procured 
for  him  at  the  age  of  thirty  the  gift  of  divine  wisdom. 
This  consists  in  seeing  into  the  thoughts  of  all  living  beings,  in 
the  foreknowledge  of  all  future  events,  however  distant  they  may 
be,  in  the  knowledge  of  the  merits  and  demerits  of  all  men;  in 
the  power  of  working  miracles,  particularly  by  causing  fire  and 
water  to  issue  from  his  eyes  at  the  same  time,  or  fire  from  one 
eye  and  water  from  the  other;  and  finally  in  a  tender  love 
toward  all  things  living.  Among  other  prodigies  related  of 


The  Burmese  347 

him  we  may  notice  the  one  said  to  have  happened  at  his  birth; 
for  he  was  no  sooner  born  than  he  walked  seven  paces  toward 
the  north,  exclaiming:  "  I  am  the  noblest  and  greatest  among 
men.  This  is  the  last  time  that  I  shall  be  born;  never  again 
shall  I  be  conceived  in  the  womb." 

During  the  forty-five  years  that  he  spent  on  earth  after  be- 
coming a  god  he  was  continually  employed  in  the  promulga- 
tion of  his  laws,  and  it  is  said  that  through  his  preaching 
2,400,000,000  persons  obtained  the  Niban. 

Previous  to  his  death  he  recommended  that  his  statue  and 
relics  should  be  preserved  and  adored. 

These  have  hence  become  objects  of  veneration  to  all  the 
Burmese  wherever  they  are  met  with;  but  they  are  more  partic- 
ularly worshipped,  with  greater  pomp  and  by  greater  num- 
bers, in  the  pagodas.  These  are  pyramidal  or  conical 
buildings  made  of  brick,  painted  and  gilded  on  the  outside. 

In  these  temples  there  is  generally  a  niche  in  which  is 
placed  the  statue  of  Godama,  though  in  some  both  the  niche 
and  the  statue  are  wanting.  These  are  the  public  places  of 
adoration  for  the  Burmese,  and  are  generally  set  apart  from  all 
other  buildings  and  surrounded  by  a  wall  of  the  same  materials 
as  the  pagoda  itself. 

But  the  laws  of  Godama  will  be  observed  upon  earth  for  the 
space  of  five  thousand  years,  reckoning  from  the  day  of  his 
death,  five  hundred  and  twenty  years  before  Christ;  from 
which  year  therefore  the  Burmese  begin  their  era.  Of  this 
period  two  thousand  three  hundred  and  ninety  years  have  al- 
ready elapsed.  As  soon  as  it  is  at  an  end  the  laws  of  Godama 
will  cease  to  be  binding,  and  another  god  must  appear  to 
promulgate  a  new  code  for  the  government  of  mankind. 

The  principal  duty  of  the  Talapoins,  or  priests,  is  the  Tera, 
or  preaching  to  the  people;  and  in  the  performance  of  this 
duty  they  ought  to  propose  as  their  model  the  sermons  of 
Godama.  The  book  which  contains  them  is  called  Sottan,  or 
the  rule  of  life,  and  is  one  of  the  principal  works  which  the 
Burmese  possess. 

The  following  is  the  best  of  the  so-claimed  true  faith: 

Is  Godama  the  only  true  god  in  the  world  ? 


34-8         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Yes,  Godama  is  the  only  true  and  real  god,  who  knows  the 
laws  of  the  four  Sizza,  and  in  whose  power  it  is  to  raise  to  the 
state  of  Niban. 

For  a  thousand  years  beforehand  the  approaching  appear- 
ance of  a  new  god  was  reported;  but  previous  to  his  coming 
six  different  pretenders,  each  with  five  hundred  disciples, 
started  up  and  gave  themselves  out  for  gods. 

Did  these  false  gods  preach  and  teach  any  laws  ? 

Yes,  but  what  they  taught  is  false  and  full  of  errors. 

But  when  the  true  god,  Godama,  appeared  did  these  false 
gods  renounce  their  doctrines  ? 

Some  renounced  and  some  did  not ;  and  many  have  remained 
obstinate  to  the  present  day.  When  Godama  saw  that  many 
persisted  in  their  errors,  he  gave  a  challenge  to  them  all,  who 
could  work  the  greatest  miracle  under  a  mango  tree.  It  was 
accepted,  but  Godama  gained  the  victory,  at  which  the  chief 
of  the  Deitti  was  so  vexed  that  he  threw  himself  into  a  river 
with  an  earthenware  vessel  tied  about  his  neck.  After  the 
death  of  their  leader  many  of  his  disciples  abandoned  his  false 
doctrines,  but  others  remained  obstinate  :  for  it  is  easy  to  draw 
a  thorn  out  of  the  hand  or  foot  by  means  of  the  nails  or  the 
megnac,  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  eradicate  false  doctrine  from 
the  hearts  of  the  Deitti. 

But  are  there  no  means  of  doing  it? 

Yes,  it  may  be  done  by  the  doctrine  of  Godama,  and  by  the 
lessons  of  good  men  ;  which  are  like  a  megnac,  of  great  excel- 
lence. 

And  what  are  these  lessons  and  doctrines  ? 

First,  that  all  who  kill  animals  or  do  anything  contrary  to 
the  ten  commandments  are  subject  to  the  punishments  allotted 
to  evil  deeds.  Then  that  those  who  give  alms  and  practise  the 
ten  good  deeds,  adore  God,  the  law,  and  the  Talapoins,  will 
enjoy  the  blessings  attached  to  the  performance  of  good  works. 
Secondly,  that  these  two  kinds  of  works,  the  good  and  the 
bad,  and  these  alone,  accompany  a  man  through  his  transmigra- 
tion in  future  worlds  in  the  same  way  as  a  shadow  follows  the 
body  to  which  it  belongs  ;  and  that  these  are  the  efficient 
causes  of  all  the  good  and  evil  that  happen  to  living  beings  in 


The  Burmese  349 

this  life  or  in  the  next  ;  of  high  and  low  birth  ;  of  riches  and 
poverty  ;  of  transportation  to  the  seats  of  the  Nat,  and  of  con- 
demnation to  the  state  of  animals  or  to  hell.  These,  together 
with  the  following,  are  the  revelations  made,  and  the  precepts 
taught  by  Godama.  According  to  the  species  of  their  bad 
works,  the  wicked  are  condemned  to  punishment.  These 
species  are  four,  according  to  the  Burmese  sacred  books.  One 
is  called  grievous,  the  other  three  are  venial. 

To  kill  one's  own  mother  or  father,  to  kill  a  priest  or  Tala- 
poin,  to  strike  or  wound  any  god,  as  Beodat  did  who  threw  a 
stone  against  the  Godama,  and  to  sow  discord  among  Tala- 
poins,  are  the  five  sins  that  constitute  the  grievous  class  ;  for 
which  the  wicked  will  have  to  suffer  fire  and  other  dreadful 
torments  in  one  of  the  greater  hells,  the  whole  duration  of  a 
world. 

This  species  of  sins  is  called  the  first,  because  it  is  the  first 
to  produce  its  effect  :  for  although  the  individual  who  has 
committed  one  of  these  five  sins  may  have  done  many  good 
deeds,  yet  he  cannot  receive  the  reward  till  after  this  first 
species  is  expiated  by  his  having  paid  the  penalty  of  that  great 
sin. 

After  this  class  come  all  sins  of  habit  ;  which,  although  in 
themselves  light,  are  nevertheless,  on  account  of  the  evil  habit, 
considered  as  punishable  in  the  greater  hells.  The  fourth 
and  last  species  comprises  all  evil  desires,  and  these  are  ex- 
piated, not  in  the  greater  hells,  but  in  the  minor  ones  that  sur- 
round them. 

All  passionate,  quarrelsome,  fraudulent,  and  cruel  men,  all 
who  in  their  deeds,  words,  or  desires,  are  either  dishonest  or 
lascivious,  will  be  cut  to  pieces  after  death,  in  one  of  the 
greater  hells,  with  instruments  of  burning  iron,  and  afterwards 
exposed  to  the  most  severe  cold  ;  and  the  parts  cut  off  return- 
ing again  to  their  former  state  will  be  a  second  time  cut  off, 
and  exposed  to  the  same  cold,  and  in  these  alternate  torments 
they  will  pass  five  hundred  infernal  years. 

All  those  who  by  signs  or  words  insult  their  relatives  or 
masters,  priests,  old  men,  or  observers  of  the  law,  and  all  who 
with  nets  or  snares  kill  animals,  will  be  condemned  to  one  of 


35°         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

the  greater  hells,  there  to  be  tormented  upon  a  fiery  bed  by 
continual  lacerations  with  red-hot  wire,  and  by  being  sawn 
with  fiery  scythes  into  eight  or  sixteen  pieces  for  the  course  of 
one  thousand  infernal  years. 

Whoever  does  not  assist  his  fellow-creatures,  those  who  in  a 
state  of  intoxication  commit  unlawful  and  indecent  actions, 
they  who  dishonour  or  ill-treat  others,  will  have  their  bowels 
burnt  up  by  a  flame  entering  through  their  mouths  ;  and  this 
punishment  will  last  four  thousand  infernal  years. 

Whoever  takes  away  furtively  or  by  deception,  fraud,  or 
open  force  the  property  of  others,  such  ministers  and  judges 
as  receive  bribes  for  deciding  suits  unjustly,  mandarins  and 
generals  that  desolate  the  enemy's  lands,  all  who  cheat  by 
false  scales,  weights,  or  measures,  or  who  in  any  way  appro- 
priate to  themselves  the  goods  of  others,  as  well  as  all  who 
steal  or  damage  things  belonging  to  priests  and  to  pagodas, 
etc., — all  such  will  be  tormented  in  one  of  the  greater  hells 
by  fire  and  smoke,  which  penetrating  through  the  eyes  and 
mouth  and  all  the  other  inlets  of  the  body  will  burn  them  alive 
for  the  course  of  eight  thousand  infernal  years. 

Those  who  sell  wines  or  poisons,  or  set  fire  to  villages,  cities, 
or  woods,  in  order  to  destroy  animals,  those  who  with  poison 
or  arms  or  enchantments  cause  men  to  perish  ;  all  these  after 
death,  being  hurled  headlong  from  a  very  high  mountain,  will 
be  received  on  the  point  of  a  red-hot  spit,  and  cut  in  pieces 
by  the  infernal  ministers  with  swords  and  spears  :  and  this 
punishment  will  last  sixteen  thousand  infernal  years. 

All  who  honour  not  their  parents,  masters,  and  old  men  ;  all 
who  drink  wine  or  other  inebriating  liquors;  all  who  corrupt 
the  waters  of  lakes  or  wells,  or  break  up  the  roads;  all  dis- 
honest dealers;  they  who  speak  bitterly  and  impatiently,  or 
beat  with  their  hands  or  with  sticks;  those  who  despise  the 
counsel  of  honest  men,  and  afflict  their  neighbour;  evil- 
speakers,  detractors,  the  passionate  and  envious;  such  as 
injure  others,  or  torment  them  by  putting  them  in  chains;  all 
who  in  word,  deed,  or  desire  are  guilty  of  evil;  lastly,  those 
who  afflict  the  sick  with  harsh  words  will  be  condemned  to 
these  minor  places  of  punishment,  to  be  there  tortured  in 


The  Burmese  351 

proportion  to  the  heinousness  of  their  offences  and  evil  habits. 
Besides  these  hells,  there  is  another,  consisting  of  an  immense 
cauldron,  full  of  melted  copper,  to  ascend  and  descend  which 
from  one  surface  to  the  other  requires  three  thousand  years. 
To  this  task  are  condemned  the  lascivious,  that  is  to  say, 
those  who  violate  the  wives,  daughters,  or  sons  of  others; 
and  those  who  through  life  despising  acts  of  charity  and  the 
observance  of  holydays,  give  themselves  up  to  drunkenness  and 
excess.  Those  equilateral  spaces  full  of  very  cold  water  are 
also,  according  to  the  Burmese  books,  so  many  hells;  to  which 
are  condemned  all  who  offend  or  insult  their  parents  or  the 
observers  of  the  law. 

Every  one  may  gain  merit  or  demerit,  according  to  his 
works,  and  so  pass  to  a  superior  or  inferior  situation. 

Rape,  highway  robbery,  murder,  and  arson  are  considered 
the  principal  capital  offences. 

False  witnesses,  who  assert  anything  from  passion,  and  not 
from  love  of  truth  (and  those  who  affirm  what  they  have 
neither  seen  nor  heard),  are  severely  punished  with  death. 

Every  species  of  good  works,  such  as  alms-deeds,  chastity, 
charity,  kindness,  diligence,  patience,  justice,  magnanimity, 
love,  and  moderation,  is  enjoined;  all  who  adore  God  and  the 
law,  will  enjoy  the  blessings  attached  to  the  performance  of 
good  works. 

Good  and  bad  works  accompany  a  man  through  future 
worlds,  and  are  the  efficient  causes  of  all  the  good  and  evil 
that  happen  to  living  beings  in  this  life,  or  in  the  next. 

We  are  forbidden  to  kill  any  living  thing;  to  steal;  to  violate 
the  wives  or  concubines  of  another;  to  tell  lies  or  to  deceive; 
and  to  use  wine,  opium,  or  any  intoxicating  liquor  —  also,  to 
covet  our  neighbour's  goods,  to  envy,  and  to  wish  misfortune 
or  death  to  others. 

Whosoever  abstains  from  all  these  evil  deeds  will  increase 
in  virtue,  till,  at  length,  he  will  obtain  the  perfect  happiness  of 
Niban. 

Admit  of  no  unlawful  act,  even  though  it  be  sought  to  be 
committed  in  secret;  by  the  observance  of  which,  a  man  is 
preserved  from  evil-doing. 


352          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Searching  after  the  means  by  which  the  hearts  of  creatures 
may  put  off  all  evil  inclinations; 

Thee,  therefore,  do  we  supplicate,  who  alone  knowest  all 
these  things,  to  reveal  them  to  us. 

To  whom  the  god  replied,  know,  that  to  keep  far  from  the 
company  of  the  ignorant;  to  be  always  in  the  society  of  the 
learned;  and  to  give  respect  and  honour  to  whom  they  are 
due;  overcoming  any  inordinate  affection;  by  the  choice  of  a 
place  of  abode  proper  to  one's  station,  and  adapted  for 
satisfying  all  the  common  wants  of  life;  by  having  always  in 
store  some  merit  acquired  in  a  former  life;  and  by  ever  main- 
taining in  one's  own  person  a  prudent  carriage;  the  comprehen- 
sion of  all  things  that  are  not  evil;  the  knowledge  of  the  duties 
of  one's  state  of  life;  and  the  observance  of  piety  and  modesty 
in  words;  these  are  most  excellent  means  by  which  we  may 
renounce  all  wicked  actions. 

By  ministering  to  one's  father  and  mother  proper  susten- 
ance, by  providing  for  one's  wife  and  children,  by  the  purity 
and  honesty  of  every  action;  by  alms-deeds,  by  the  observance 
of  divine  precepts;  by  succouring  in  their  necessities  those  who 
are  united  to  us  by  the  ties  of  kindred;  by  everything  else  in 
which  there  is  no  sin;  by  all  these  means  may  we  be  preserved 
from  evil  deeds. 

By  such  a  freedom  from  all  faults  that  not  even  the  inferior 
part  of  the  soul  manifest  any  affection  for  them;  by  the 
abstinence  from  all  intoxicating  drinks;  by  the  never-failing 
practice  of  works  of  piety;  by  showing  respect  to  all;  by  being 
humble  before  all;  by  sobriety;  by  gratitude  to  our  bene- 
factors; and  finally  by  listening  from  time  to  time  to 
the  preaching  of  the  word  of  God;  by  these  means  may 
we  overcome  our  inclinations,  and  keep  ourselves  from 
sin. 

The  virtue  of  patience;  docility  in  receiving  the  admoni- 
tions of  good  men;  frequent  visits  to  priests;  spiritual  confer- 
ences on  the  divine  laws;  frugality  and  modesty  in  our 
exterior;  the  observance  of  the  letter  of  the  law;  having  ever 
before  our  eyes  the  state  into  which  living  creatures  will  pass 
after  death;  and,  finally,  the  meditation  of  the  happy  reposes 


The  Burmese  353 

of  the  Niban;  these  are  all  distinguished  precepts  for  preserv- 
ing man  from  wickedness. 

That  intrepidity  and  serenity  of  mind  which  good  men 
preserve  amid  the  calamities  of  life,  in  abundance  and  want, 
in  censure  and  praise,  in  joy  and  distress,  in  popularity  and 
abandonment  ;  the  absence  of  all  fear  or  inquietude  of  heart ; 
the  freedom  from  the  dark  mist  of  concupiscence:  these  are 
rare  gifts  that  remove  a  man  far  away  from  all  affection  to 
evil. 

Imprint  well  upon  your  heart  the  precepts  I  have  just 
delivered;  let  them  be  deeply  rooted  there,  and  see  to  put 
them  in  execution,  also  hospitality  to  our  guests,  and  to 
travellers,  ministering  to  the  wants  of  the  sick,  and  in  times  of 
scarcity  to  those  of  all  persons. 

But  all  these  are  surpassed  in  merit  by  the  adoration  of  God 
and  the  law. 

Godama  confirmed  all  these  his  precepts,  and  added  that 
the  real  adoration  of  God  does  not  consist  in  offering  Him 
rice,  flowers,  or  sandal-wood,  but  in  the  observance  of  His 
laws. 

All  who  aspire  to  perfection  must  be  careful  to  avoid  the 
works  which  do  hurt  to  living  creatures;  by  thus  flying  away 
from  evil,  and  ever  seeking  to  acquire  merit  in  this  life,  as 
well  as  in  future  ones,  they  will  at  length  attain  to  the  Niban. 

The  works  that  do  hurt  to  living  creatures  are  murder, 
theft,  deceit,  and  adultery. 

All  those  committed  by  judges,  when  on  account  of 
presents,  consanguinity,  or  friendship  they  decide  unjustly, 
when  through  hatred  to  the  party  who  has  reason  on  his  side, 
they  pronounce  against  him,  and  finally  when  through  fear  or 
respect  of  persons,  as  of  mandarins,  or  rich  or  powerful  men, 
they  commit  injustice.  Those  offenders  also  are  here  com- 
priseb!  who  do  not  divide  property  equally  as  they  ought, 
through  love,  fear,  or  hatred. 

Besides  this,  a  man  must  refrain  from  the  things  that  are 
called  ruinous;  which  are,  the  love  of  intoxicating  liquors, 
the  custom  of  wandering  about  the  streets  at  unseasonable 
hours,  too  great  a  passion  for  dancing,  games,  and  spectacles, 


354          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

gaming,  frequenting  vicious  company,  lastly,  slothfulness  and 
negligence  in  the  performance  of  one's  duty. 

For  from  these  spring  six  great  evils. 

Drunkenness  is  the  cause  of  loss  of  goods  and  reputation, 
of  quarrels,  diseases,  immodesty  of  dress,  disregard  of  honour; 
unseasonable  wanderings  expose  a  man  to  great  dangers,  and 
by  keeping  him  from  his  family,  oblige  him  to  leave  the  chas- 
tity of  his  wife  and  daughter  unprotected;  and,  moreover,  his 
possessions  are  thus  liable  to  depredations. 

A  passion  for  shows  draws  a  man  from  his  occupation  and 
hinders  him  from  gaining  his  livelihood. 

In  gaming  success  is  followed  by  intrigues  and  quarrels;  loss 
by  bitterness  and  sorrow  of  heart,  as  well  as  dilapidation  of 
fortune;  the  gamester  is  incapacitated  by  law  to  give  testimony. 

Finally,  frequenting  the  company  of  the  vicious  will  lead  a 
man  into  the  houses  of  women  of  ill-fame,  into  drunkenness 
and  gluttony,  into  deceit  and  robbery  and  all  kinds  of  disorders. 

Godama  denounced  the  following:  making  show  of  friend- 
ship without  having  its  reality,  professing  a  love  which  they 
do  not  feel,  giving  little  that  they  may  receive  much,  and 
being  friends  to  a  man  only  because  he  is  rich  or  because  they 
have  need  of  his  favour. 

Real  friends  are  those  who  are  such  both  in  adversity  and 
prosperity;  those  who  give  good  advice  on  proper  occasions 
even  at  the  peril  of  their  lives;  those  who  take  care  of  things 
that  belong  to  him  whom  they  love;  those  who  teach  a  man 
what  is  good,  who  are  delighted  in  his  prosperity  and  sorrow- 
ful in  his  misfortunes. 

Children  are,  in  particular,  obliged  to  respect  their  parents 
and  to  listen  to  their  words  and  advice. 

Parents,  on  the  other  hand,  with  respect  to  their  children, 
must  keep  them  far  from  all  wickedness;  procure  that  they 
always  have  good  companions;  they  must  instruct  them  and 
teach  them  to  give  alms  and  do  other  pious  works,  and  when 
they  have  arrived  at  the  proper  age  be  careful  to  marry  them. 

The  husband  should  speak  to  his  wife  respectfully;  should 
not  ill-treat  her,  should  not  desert  her  to  live  with  another 
woman. 


The  Burmese  355 

A  master  should  adapt  the  labours  of  his  slaves  to  their 
strength  and  capacities;  should  give  them  their  maintenance, 
should  treat  them  well,  but  particularly  be  attentive  to  them 
when  sick. 

Slaves  should  look  to  the  interests  of  their  masters  in  their 
labours  and  take  nothing  but  what  is  allowed  them. 

We  should  divide  our  goods  and  share  them  with  the  poor; 
for  the  poor  are  our  companions  in  the  journey  to  a  future 
life.  Alms  given  by  a  poor  man  are  of  greater  merit  than 
alms  given  by  a  rich  one. 

The  only  faithful  companions  who  will  not  desert  us  in  the 
life  to  come  are  our  good  deeds;  and  the  only  good  that  will 
continue  with  us  unaltered,  even  to  old  age,  is  the  observance 
of  the  law,  for  this  no  thief  can  take  away. 

Godama  exhorts  to  lay  aside  every  sentiment  of  pride;  not 
to  let  the  affections  be  occupied  by  this  world,  not  to  give 
ourselves  up  to  the  pleasures  of  sense,  but  to  aspire  to  Niban 
alone.  Having  what  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  our  hunger  to-day, 
we  should  not  think  of  to-morrow;  and  having  one  coat,  we 
should  not  wish  for  another. 

He  admonishes  not  to  look  upon  indecent  objects,  not  to 
listen  to  lascivious  song,  not  to  give  way  to  murmuring,  not  to 
exceed  in  the  pleasures  of  the  palate,  and  to  restrain  the  hands 
from  unlawful  touches  and  to  observe  modesty  in  our  exterior. 

Those  who  pride  themselves  in  their  birth  or  in  their  pos- 
sessions can  never  reach  to  the  Niban.  All  must  observe 
modesty  in  their  five  bodily  senses;  they  must  not  run  after 
feasts  and  such  vanities;  they  must  not  make  use  of  any  spe- 
cies of  vain  and  idle  words;  they  must  not  take  delight  in 
thinking  of  anything  unlawful;  they  must  extinguish  in  them- 
selves all  evil  inclinations;  they  must  not  be  scrupulous  and 
irresolute  in  acting;  they  must  above  all  things  be  assiduous 
in  prayer  and  meditation;  they  must  not  seek  after  magnifi- 
cence and  superfluity;  they  must  fly  from  sloth,  lying,  immod- 
erate laughter,  vain  joy,  and  play;  they  must  abhor  sorcery 
and  not  give  credit  to  dreams;  when  abused  or  derided  they 
must  not  give  way  to  anger,  and  when  praised  must  not  be 
puffed  up;  they  must  not  envy  others  their  dress;  they  must 


356         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

not  flatter  benefactors  to  draw  alms  from  them,  nor  preach 
sermons  in  which  they  display  their  desire  of  them;  they 
must  not  admit  of  any  bitterness  or  acrimony  in  talking,  nor 
deride,  nor  despise,  nor  injure  others;  they  ought  to  accom- 
modate themselves  to  the  opinions  of  others,  not  to  give  occa- 
sion for  dissension;  ought  never  to  consent  to  any  bad 
thoughts,  and  he  who  does  consent  to  them  and  take  pleasure 
in  them  shows  that  he  has  no  fear  of  sinning,  and  is  therefore 
in  a  state  of  sinful  cowardice. 

But  he  who  does  not  consent  to  such  thoughts  truly  seeks 
after  sanctity. 

All  are  once  more  recommended  to  shun  vanity,  to  observe 
modesty,  and  to  consider  that  good  works  are  our  only  hopes 
and  our  only  true  friends,  and  thus  the  heart  will  be  fixed  in 
doing  all  that  is  good. 

He  who  speaks  sweetly  and  with  affability  will  have  many 
friends;  but  he  whose  words  are  bitter  will  have  few  or  none. 

In  judging  causes,  the  testimony  of  persons  respectable  by 
their  state  in  life  and  their  wisdom,  disinterested,  and  who 
believe  in  the  merit  of  good  works,  ought  to  be  received. 

If  a  husband  surprise  a  man  in  adultery  with  his  wife,  he 
may  lawfully  kill  him. 

THE  HINDOOS. 

In  the  following  will  be  found  the  main  features  of  Hindu 
theology  and  religious  teachings: 

The  Vedas,  which  are  the  Hindu  scriptures,  and  of  which 
there  are  four,  the  Rig,  Yagust,  Saman,  and  Atharvan,  are 
asserted  to  have  been  revealed  by  Brahma. 

They  are  based  upon  an  acknowledgment  of  a  Universal 
Spirit  pervading  all  things.  Of  this  God  they  therefore  neces- 
sarily acknowledge  the  unity:  "  There  is  in  truth  but  one 
Deity,  the  Supreme  Spirit,  the  Lord  of  the  universe,  whose 
work  is  the  universe.  The  God  above  all  gods,  who  created 
the  earth,  the  heavens,  the  waters." 

These  scriptures  convey  the  idea  that  there  is  a  pervading 
spirit  existing  everywhere  of  the  same  nature  as  the  soul  of 
man,  though  differing  from  it  infinitely  in  degree. 


The  Hindoos  357 

As  to  the  relation  between  the  Supreme  Being  and  man,  the 
soul  is  a  portion  or  particle  of  that  all-pervading  principle, 
the  Universal  Intellect  or  Soul  of  the  World. 

The  three  Vedic  divinities,  Agni,  Indra,  and  Surga,  are  not 
to  be  looked  upon  as  existing  independently,  for  all  spirits  are 
comprehended  in  the  Universal  Soul.  They  do  not  authorise 
the  worship  of  deified  men,  or  of  images,  or  of  any  visible 
forms.  They  admit  the  adoration  of  subordinate  spirits,  as 
those  of  the  planets.  They  inculcate  universal  charity — 
charity  even  to  an  enemy: — "The  tree  doth  not  withdraw  its 
shade  from  the  wood-cutter."  In  the  Institutes  of  Menu,  a 
code  of  civil  and  religious  law,  written  about  the  ninth  cent- 
ury before  Christ,  though,  like  the  Vedas,  betraying  a  gradual 
origin,  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  unity  becomes  more  dis- 
tinctly mixed  up  with  Pantheistic  ideas.  They  present  a 
description  of  creation,  of  the  nature  of  God  and  the  soul, 
and  contain  prescribed  rules  for  the  duty  of  man  in  every 
station  of  life,  from  the  moment  of  birth  to  death.  Their 
imperious  regulations  in  all  these  minute  details  are  a  suffi- 
cient proof  of  the  great  development  and  paramount  power 
to  which  the  priesthood  had  now  attained;  but  their  morality 
is  discreditable.  Their  arbitrary  and  all-reaching  spirit  re- 
minds one  of  the  Papal  system;  their  recommendations  to 
sovereigns,  their  authorisation  of  immoralities,  recall  the 
state  of  Italian  society  as  reflected  in  the  works  of  Machia- 
velli.  They  hold  learning  in  the  most  signal  esteem,  but  con- 
cede to  the  prejudices  of  the  illiterate  in  a  worship  of  the 
gods  with  burnt  offerings  of  clarified  butter  and  libations  of 
the  juices  of  plants.  They  make  a  Brahman  the  chief  of  all 
created  things. 

In  their  essential  principles  the  Institutes  follow  the  Vedas, 
though,  as  must  be  the  case  in  every  system  intended  for  men 
in  the  various  stages  of  intellectual  progress  from  the  least 
advanced  to  the  highest,  they  show  a  leaning  toward  popular 
delusions. 

A  new  ritual,  instead  of  the  Vedas,  has  come  into  use,  these 
scriptures  being  the  eighteen  Puranas,  composed  between 
the  eighth  and  sixteenth  centuries.  They  contain  theogonies, 


358         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

accounts  of  the  creation,  philosophical  speculations,  fragment- 
ary history,  and  may  be  brought  to  support  any  sectarian 
view,  having  never  been  intended  as  one  general  body,  but 
they  are  received  as  incontrovertible  authority.  In  the  "  Bag- 
havat  Gita,"  the  text-book  of  the  modern  school,  the  sole 
essential  for  salvation  is  dependence  on  some  particular 
teacher,  which  makes  up  for  everything  else.  The  efficacy 
which  is  thus  ascribed  to  faith,  and  the  facility  with  which  sin 
may  be  expiated  by  penance,  has  led  to  great  mental  per- 
version and  superstition,  which  finds  its  analogy  in  the  Roman 
Church,  and  somewhat  in  all  the  churches  where  faith  in  the 
Divinity  of  Christ  is  held  as  indispensable  to  salvation. 

Christna  or  Chrisna,  also  Vishnu,  is  one  of  the  most  popular 
of  all  the  Hindoo  deities.  An  immense  number  of  legends 
are  told  respecting  him,  which  are  not  worth  recording  here, 
but  the  following,  condensed  from  the  Anacalypsis  of  Godfrey 
Higgins,  will  well  repay  perusal.  He  is  represented  as  the 
son  of  Brahma  and  Maia,  and  is  usually  called  "  the  Saviour," 
or  "  the  Preserver."  He,  being  a  god,  became  incarnate  in  the 
flesh.  As  soon  as  he  was  born,  he  was  saluted  by  a  chorus  of 
devatars,  or  angels.  His  birthplace  was  Mathurea.  He  was 
cradled  amongst  Shepherds.  Soon  after  his  birth  he  was 
carried  away  by  night  to  a  remote  place  for  fear  of  a  tyrant, 
whose  destroyer  it  was  foretold  he  would  become,  and  who 
ordered  all  male  children  to  be  slain  (an  episode  marked  in 
the  sculptures  at  Elephanta).  By  the  male  line  he  was  of 
Royal  descent,  though  born  in  a  dungeon,  which  on  his  arrival 
he  illuminated,  whilst  the  faces  of  his  parents  shone.  Christna 
spoke  as  soon  as  he  was  born,  and  comforted  his  mother.  He 
was  preceded  by  his  brother  Ram,  who  helped  him  to  purify 
the  world  of  monsters  and  demons.  Christna  descended  into 
Hades,  and  returned  to  Vaicontha.  One  of  his  names  is 
"  The  Good  Shepherd."  An  Indian  prophet,  Nared  Saphos, 
or  wisdom,  visited  him,  consulted  the  stars,  and  pronounced 
him  a  celestial  being.  Christna  cured  a  leper  ;  a  woman 
poured  on  his  head  a  box  of  ointment,  and  he  cured  her  of 
disease.  He  was  chosen  king  amongst  his  fellow  cowherds. 
He  washed  the  feet  of  Brahmins,  and  when  Brahma  stole  the 


The  Hindoos  359 

sheep  and  cowboys  of  his  father's  farm  (Nanda's)  Christna 
made  a  new  set.  Christna  had  a  dreadful  fight  with  the  serp- 
ent Caluga.  He  was  sent  to  a  tutor,  whom  he  astonished 
with  his  learning.  Christna  was  crucified,  went  into  hell,  and 
afterwards  into  heaven. 

Christna  and  his  mother  are  almost  always  represented  as 
black.  Christna's  statue  in  the  temple  at  Mathura  is  black, 
and  the  temple  is  built  in  the  form  of  a  cross  (Ptolemy  calls 
the  place  Matura  Deorum).  As  Vishuu  he  is  painted  with  a 
Parthian  coronet  round  his  head  when  crucified.  As  Wittoba 
he  is  painted  sometimes  with  stigmata  in  his  hands,  sometimes 
in  his  feet,  and  one  of  the  pictures  representing  him  has  a 
round  hole  in  the  side  ;  to  his  collar  hangs  a  heart,  and  on 
his  head  is  a  Linga  yoni!  In  another  picture  he  is  called 
Ballaji,  and  is  contending  with  a  seven-headed  cobra.  His 
most  celebrated  temple  is  at  Terputty.  The  date  of  Christna's 
first  mystic  birth  is  about  six  hundred  B.C. 

Of  the  deities  of  the  Veda,  Agni  and  Indra,  the  former 
comprises  the  element  of  Fire  under  three  aspects:  ist.  As 
it  exists  on  earth,  not  only  as  culinary  or  religious  fire,  but 
in  the  heat  of  digestion  and  of  life  and  the  vivifying  principle 
of  vegetation;  2d.  As  it  exists  in  the  atmosphere,  or  mid- 
heaven,  in  the  form  of  lightning;  and  3d.  As  it  is  manifested 
in  the  heavens,  as  light,  the  sun,  the  dawn,  and  the  planetary 
bodies. 

The  defication  of  Indra  is  more  consistent,  as  he  has  no 
incongruous  functions  to  discharge.  He  is  a  personification 
of  the  phenomena  of  the  firmament,  particularly  in  the  cap- 
acity of  sending  down  rain.  This  property  is  metaphorically 
described  as  a  conflict  with  the  clouds,  which  are  reluctant  to 
part  with  their  watery  stores,  until  assailed  and  penetrated  by 
the  thunderbolt  of  Indra. 

The  Sun,  Surya  or  Savita,  occupies  a  much  less  conspicuous 
place  in  Hindu  worship  than  we  should  have  anticipated  from 
the  visible  magnificence  of  that  luminary,  and  his  adoration 
by  neighbouring  nations. 

The  sun,  like  Agni  and  Indra,  is  the  giver  of  temporal 
blessing  to  his  worshippers;  he  is  the  source  of  light. 


360         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

The  share  of  Agni  and  Indra  in  the  production  of  rain, 
and  their  fierce  and  impetuous  nature,  are  figurative  repre- 
sentations of  physical  phenomena. 

The  following  is  contained  in  the  Hindu  Sacred  Writings: 

In  the  beginning  there  arose  the  source  of  golden  light. 
He  was  the  one  born  Lord  of  all  that  is.  He  'stablished  the 
earth  and  this  sky. 

He  who  gives  life,  he  who  gives  strength;  whose  command 
all  the  bright  gods  revere;  whose  shadow  is  immortality. 

He  who  through  his  power  is  the  one  King  of  the  breath- 
ing and  awaking  world;  he  who  governs  all,  man  and  beast; 
who  is  the  God  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our  worship  ? 

He  who  by  his  might  looked  even  over  the  water-clouds, 
the  clouds  which  gave  strength  and  lit  the  sacrifice,  he  who 
alone  is  God  above  all  gods;  who  is  the  God  to  whom  we 
shall  offer  our  worship  ? 

May  he  not  destroy  us  —  he  the  creator  of  the  earth;  or  he 
the  Righteous,  who  created  the  heaven;  he  who  also  created 
the  bright  and  mighty  waters;  who  is  the  God  to  whom  we 
shall  offer  our  worship  ? 

All  who  are  wise  of  heart  adore  God  the  Begetter,  bringing 
him  offerings  of  a  devout  heart  with  hymn  of  praise. 

The  air  all  around  is  full  of  the  whispering  of  the  wind,  thy 
breath.  Those  who  are  wise,  the  truthful  seers,  the  ministers 
of  sacrifice,  who  raise  on  high  the  hymn  of  praise  to  thee. 
Even  to  evil-doers  is  he  merciful;  may  we  all  live  before  thee 
without  sin,  faithfully  observant  of  thy  eternal  laws. 

However  we  break  thy  laws  from  day  to  day,  men  as  we 
are,  O  God. 

Do  not  deliver  us  unto  death,  nor  to  the  blow  of  the  furi- 
ous; nor  to  the  anger  of  the  spiteful! 

May  he,  the  wise,  make  our  paths  straight  all  our  days;  may 
he  prolong  our  lives! 

The  God  whom  the  scoffers  do  not  provoke,  nor  the  tor- 
mentors of  men,  nor  the  plotters  of  mischief. 

Yearning  for  him,  the  far  seeing,  my  thoughts  move  on- 
wards, as  kine  move  to  their  pastures. 


The  Hindoos  361 

Be  pure  and  pious  all,  that  your  way  may  not  go  down  to 
the  house  of  death,  but  that  you  may  enjoy  length  of  days, 
and  abundance  of  treasures. 

As  days  succeed  days,  changing  seasons  with  seasons,  lo, 
give,  O  Creator,  these  here  to  live,  that  the  younger  may  not 
leave  their  parent  desolate. 

God's  coursers  bear  on  high  the  divine  Sun  that  he  may  be 
seen  by  all  (the  worlds). 

(At  the  approach)  of  the  all-illuminating  Sun,  the  con- 
stellations depart,  with  the  night. 

With  that  light  with  which  thou,  the  purifier  and  defender 
from  evil,  lookest  upon  this  creature-bearing  world. 

Indra  abides,  humbling  the  neglecters  of  holy  acts  in  favour 
of  those  who  observe  them,  and  punishing  those  who  turn 
away  from  his  worship,  in  favour  of  those  who  are  present 
(with  their  praise). 

This  adoration  is  offered  to  the  shedder  of  rain,  the  self- 
resplendent,  the  possessor  of  true  vigour,  the  mighty. 

Verily,  with  thy  bulk,  thou  fillest  all  the  firmament;  of  a 
truth  there  is  none  other  such  as  thou. 

May  the  gods,  turning  not  away,  be  ever  with  us  for  our 
advancement. 

May  the  benevolent  favour  of  the  gods  (be  ours);  may  the 
bounty  of  the  gods,  ever  approving  of  the  upright,  light  upon 
us;  may  we  obtain  the  friendship  of  the  gods. 

Let  us  hear  gods,  with  our  ears,  what  are  good  objects  of 
worship,  let  us  see,  with  our  eyes,  what  is  good:  let  us  engage 
in  your  praises. 

These  divinities  of  the  morning  have  spread  light  (over  the 
world). 

The  deities  of  the  dawn  have  restored,  as  of  yore,  the  con- 
sciousness of  (sentient  creatures),  and,  bright-rayed,  have  at- 
tended upon  the  glorious  sun,  bringing  every  kind  of  food  to 
the  performer  of  good  works. 

Ushas  cuts  off  the  accumulated  (glooms).  The  daughter 
of  the  sky  awaits  the  glorious  sun. 

We  have  crossed  over  the  boundary  of  darkness.  Ushas 
restores  the  consciousness  (of  living  beings).  Bright-shining, 


362          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

she  smiles,  like  a  flatterer  to  obtain  favour,  and  lovely  in  all 
her  radiance,  she  has  swallowed  for  our  delight  the  darkness. 

May  he,  of  whom  the  excellent  measure  (of  all  things), 
through  strength,  eternally  and  everywhere  cherishes  heaven 
and  earth,  propitiated  by  our  acts,  convey  us  beyond  evil. 

Ushas,  endowed  with  truth,  let  the  worker  of  iniquity 
depart,  for  we  shall  overcome  him  with  our  chariot,  through 
thy  assistance. 

Let  words  of  truth  be  spoken:  let  works  of  wisdom  (be 
performed). 

At  thy  dawning,  (Ushas),  the  various  birds  rise  up  from 
their  nests,  and  men  who  have  to  earn  their  bread  quit  their 
homes;  be  glorified  by  this  (my)  hymn;  graciously  disposed 
towards  us,  augment  (our  prosperity);  and  may  we  obtain 
goddesses,  through  your  favour,  a  hundred  and  a  thousand 
fold. 

These  wonderful  (rewards)  verily  are  for  those  who  give 
(pious)  donations:  for  the  donors  of  (pious)  gifts  the  suns 
shine  in  heaven:  the  givers  of  (pious)  donations  attain  im- 
mortality: the  givers  of  (pious)  gifts  prolong  their  (worldly) 
existence. 

May  those  who  propitiate  (the  gods)  never  commit  degrad- 
ing sin:  may  those  who  praise  the  gods  and  observe  holy 
vows  never  experience  decay. 

Agni,  who  gives  pleasure  (to  his  worshippers),  being  pleased 
(himself)  in  like  manner  as  men  follow  a  path  that  leads  to 
happiness,  who  is  the  guardian  of  all  these  treasures,  has 
power  (to  distribute  them). 

Agni  grants  blessings  to  every  (pious)  worshipper  and  opens 
for  him  the  gates  (of  heaven). 

Agni  is  a  most  amiable  friend  in  human  infirmity;  the 
beloved  protector  of  all,  he  preserves  us  from  the  malignity 
of  sin. 

Inasmuch  as  the  hero,  Indra,  rightly  judges  men  by  their 
deeds,  therefore  do  the  (pious);  (men)  worship  him,  that  by 
their  own  strength  they  may  overcome  (their  foes). 

The  timid  and  anxious  (worshipper)  praises  thee,  who  art 
auspicious,  for  driving  (away)  thieves;  for  thou  defendest  (us) 


The  Hindoos  363 

from  all  beings,  (as  the  reward)  of  our  righteousness;  thou 
protectest  us  from  the  fear  of  evil  sprits,  (as  the  reward)  of 
our  righteousness. 

Whatever  individual  offers  adoration  preserve  him  entirely 
unharmed  from  sin;  preserve  from  sin  the  mortal  who  is 
sincere  in  his  devotion,  who  offers  worship  with  praises. 

Desirous  of  happiness,  I  adore  him,  whose  protection  is 
ever  nigh;  who  is  the  source  of  felicity;  who,  when  devoutly 
worshipped,  blends  with  the  thoughts  of  all  (his  worshippers): 
(though)  a  deity. 

Free  from  anger,  and  entitled  to  ample  praise,  be  ever 
accessible  to  us;  be  our  leader  in  every  encounter. 

Agni,  listen  attentively  when  thou  art  praised,  by  us,  and 
repeat  (those  praises)  to  the  gods  who  are  entitled  to  worship; 
to  the  royal  (deities)  entitled  to  worship. 

Bestow,  Agni,  upon  our  excellent  patron  a  boat  ever  fitted 
with  oars,  (one  that  may  render)  our  posterity  prosperous, 
and  may  bear  mankind  across  (the  ocean  of  life)  to  felicity. 

He,  the  searcher,  the  accessible,  has  declared  to  mortals 
(the  knowledge  of)  their  religious  duties. 

He  who  is  visible  to  all,  is  the  parent  of  that  (pious) 
progeny. 

He,  who  is,  as  it  were,  the  generator  of  men  as  well  as  of 
heaven  and  earth,  of  whom  creation  has  imbibed  life,  abides 
with  his  glories. 

(I  ask  thee  to  withhold  thy  favour)  from  him  who,  ac- 
knowledging thee  not  as  his  lord,  is  chary  of  gifts,  and  from 
him  who  rarely  praises  (the  gods). 

He  amongst  those  (who  are  your  followers),  who  observes 
truth,  who  is  considerate,  who  is  commended  by  the  wise. 

The  purpose  of  worshipping  you  is  not  the  performance, 
but  (even  by  so  much)  I  may  attain  to  your  glory,  and  there 
is  acquittance  (of  my  duty). 

May  I  attain  his  favourite  path,  in  which  God-seeking  men 
delight;  (the  path)  in  whose  exalted  station  there  is  a  (per- 
petual) flow  of  felicity. 

I  glorify  the  mighty  Heaven  and  Earth,  those  two,  who 
cherish  their  worshippers  as  children. 


364         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Verily  I  propitiate,  by  my  invocations,  the  mind  of  the 
benevolent  father,  and  the  great  and  spontaneous  (affection) 
of  the  mother  (of  all  beings).  The  parents,  with  kindness, 
have  secured,  by  their  excellent  protections,  the  vast  and 
manifold  immortality  of  their  progeny. 

These,  your  children,  the  performers  of  good  works,  and 
of  goodly  appearance,  recognise  you  as  their  great  parents, 
through  experience  of  former  (kindness);  preserve  uninter- 
rupted stability  in  the  functions  of  your  progeny,  whether 
stationary  or  moving,  (depending  for  existence)  on  none 
other  than  you. 

Heaven  and  Earth  are  the  diffusers  of  happiness  on  all, 
encouragers  of  truth. 

I  have  beheld  the  Lord  of  Men  with  seven  sons;  of  which 
delightful  and  benevolent  (deity)  who  is  the  object  of  our 
invocation. 

Who  has  seen  the  primeval  (being)  at  the  time  of  his  being 
born  ? 

Ignorant,  I  inquire  of  the  sages  who  know  (the  truth);  not 
as  one  knowing  (do  I  inquire),  for  the  sake  of  (gaining) 
knowledge;  what  is  that  One  alone,  who  has  upheld  these  six 
spheres  in  the  form  of  the  unborn? 

Let  him  who  knows  this  (truth)  quickly  declare  it;  the 
mysterious  condition  of  the  beautiful  ever-moving  (sun):  the 
rays  shed  (their)  milk  from  his  exalted  head,  investing  his 
form  with  radiance:  they  have  drunk  up  the  water  by  the 
paths  (by  which  they  were  poured  forth). 

The  mother  (earth)  worships  the  father  (sun)  with  holy 
rites,  for  the  sake  of  water;  but  he  has  anticipated  (her 
wants)  in  his  mind. 

Miiller  says:  The  idea  of  revelation,  and  we  mean  more 
particularly  book-revelation,  is  not  a  modern  idea,  nor  is  it  an 
idea  peculiar  to  Christianity. 

Though  we  look  for  it  in  vain  in  the  literature  of  Greece 
and  Rome,  we  find  the  literature  of  India  saturated  with  this 
idea  from  beginning  to  end.  In  no  country,  we  believe,  has 
the  theory  of  revelation  been  so  minutely  elaborated  as  in  India. 


The  Hindoos  365 

According  to  the  orthodox  views  of  Indian  theologians  not 
a  single  line  of  the  Veda  was  the  work  of  human  authors.  The 
whole  Veda  is  in  some  way  or  other  the  work  of  the  Deity;  and 
even  those  who  received  the  revelation,  or,  as  they  express  it, 
those  who  saw  it,  were  not  supposed  to  be  ordinary  mortals, 
but  beings  raised  above  the  level  of  common  humanity,  and 
less  liable,  therefore,  to  error  in  the  reception  of  revealed 
truth.  The  views  entertained  of  revelation  by  the  orthodox 
theologians  of  India  are  far  more  minute  and  elaborate  than 
those  of  the  most  extreme  advocates  of  verbal  inspiration  in 
Europe.  The  human  element,  called  "  paurusheyatva,"  in 
Sanskrit,  is  driven  out  of  every  corner  or  hiding  place;  and  as 
the  Veda  is  held  to  have  existed  in  the  mind  of  the  Deity  be- 
fore the  beginning  of  time,  every  allusion  to  historical  events, 
of  which  there  are  not  a  few,  is  explained  away  with  a  zeal 
and  ingenuity  worthy  of  a  better  cause. 

The  poets  of  the  Veda  speak  of  their  hymns  as  "  god-given." 
One  poet  says:  "O  god  (Indra)  have  mercy!  Sharpen  my 
mind,  like  the  edge  of  iron.  Whatever  I  now  may  utter,  long- 
ing for  thee,  do  thou  accept  it;  make  me  possessed  of  God!  " 
Another  utters  for  the  first  time  the  famous  hymn,  the 
"  Gayatri,"  which  now  for  more  than  three  thousand  years  has 
been  the  daily  prayer  of  every  Brahman,  and  is  still  repeated 
every  morning  by  millions  of  pious  worshippers:  "Let  us 
meditate  on  the  adorable  light  of  the  divine  Creator:  may  He 
rouse  our  minds."  This  consciousness  of  higher  influences 
in  those  who  utter  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  Him  who 
made  us,  is  the  key-note  of  all  religion,  whether  ancient  or 
modern. 

The  real  history  of  man  is  the  history  of  religion  —  the 
wonderful  ways  by  which  the  different  families  of  the  human 
race  advanced  toward  a  truer  knowledge  and  a  deeper  love  of 
God.  This  is  the  foundation  that  underlies  all  history:  it  is 
the  light,  the  soul,  and  life  of  history.  Man  has  but  one  his- 
tory— the  religious  and  profane  so-called  are  but  one;  a  man's 
religion  has  its  best  exponent  in  his  every-day  conduct,  good 
works  and  love  to  God  being  the  first  and  only  religion,  theo- 
logies and  creeds  being  but  as  chaff. 


366          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

The  whole  population  of  the  world  has  the  same  religion  in 
the  various  theologies  and  creeds  held  in  the  several  countries. 
31.2  per  cent,  are  Buddhists,  13.4  per  cent,  are  Brahmanists, 
which  together  gives  44  per  cent,  for  what  may  be  called  living 
Aryan  religions.  Of  the  remaining  56  per  cent.,  15.7  are  Mo- 
hammedans, 8.7  per  cent,  nondescript  heathens,  30.7  per  cent. 
Christians,  and  only  0.3  per  cent.  Jews. 

CONFUCIANISM 

The  following  contains  some  of  the  superstitions,  worship, 
and  theology  mingled  by  the  priests  of  China  with  the  moral 
teachings  of  Confucius;  together  with  a  short  account  of  his 
early  life  and  teachings. 

Confucius,  a  great  sage,  moralist,  and  teacher,  an  active 
advocate  of  the  good,  the  right,  the  true,  and  the  practice  of 
love  and  kind  offices  between  man  and  man,  has  been  the  ob- 
ject of  adoration  and  worship  in  chapels,  specially  erected  for 
and  dedicated  to  the  purpose  throughout  the  Chinese  Empire, 
for  the  last  twenty-three  centuries.  He  was  born  five  hundred 
and  fifty-one  years  before  Christ.  He  was  the  first-born  of  his 
mother,  who  was  married  when  she  was  quite  young  to  a  man 
much  older  than  herself.  Among  the  legends  current  con- 
nected with  his  birth,  etc.,  are  the  following:  During  the 
pregnancy  of  his  mother,  she  dreamed  that  she  was  to  have  a 
son,  and  that  a  four-footed  beast  knelt  before  her,  and  cast 
forth  from  his  mouth  a  slip  or  gem,  on  which  was  the  inscrip- 
tion, "  The  son  of  the  essence  of  water  shall  succeed  to  the 
withering  Chow  and  be  a  throneless  King."  On  the  night 
when  the  child  was  born,  two  dragons  came  and  kept  watch 
on  the  left  and  right  of  the  hill,  and  two  spirit  ladies  appeared 
in  the  air  pouring  out  fragrant  odours.  As  soon  as  the  birth 
took  place,  a  spring  of  clear  warm  water  bubbled  up  from  the 
floor  of  the  cave,  which  dried  up  again  when  the  child  had 
been  washed  in  it.  The  child  was  born  in  a  designated  cave, 
in  obedience  to  a  previous  dream.  The  records  which  we 
have  of  Confucius'  early  years  are  very  scant.  When  he  was 
in  his  third  year  his  father  died.  It  is  related  of  him  that  as 


Confucianism  367 

a  boy  he  used  to  play  at  the  arrangement  of  sacrificial  vessels, 
and  postures  of  ceremony.  Of  his  schooling,  we  have  no 
reliable  account.  He  tells  us  himself  that  at  fifteen  he  bent  his 
mind  to  learning,  but  the  condition  of  his  family  was  one  of 
poverty.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  was  employed  as  keeper 
of  the  stores  of  grain.  In  his  twenty-second  year  he  com- 
menced his  labours  as  a  public  teacher,  and  at  thirty  had  made 
great  progress  in  learning  and  wisdom,  gained  great  and  wide- 
spread fame,  and  was  surrounded  by  disciples.  The  benefit  of 
his  wisdom  and  counsel  was  sought  after  by  the  high  and  low, 
by  princes,  rulers,  students,  and  inquirers  after  truth  of  all 
classes.  So  high  was  the  moral  tone  of  all  his  axioms,  and  so 
perfectly  in  accordance  with  man's  innate  perceptions  of  the 
right  and  good  were  all  his  teachings,  that  the  many  drank 
them  in  with  the  same  avidity  as  they  did  the  early  teachings 
of  Christ,  before  they  were  adulterated  with  the  theology  of 
the  priests. 

The  number  of  temples  erected  to  his  memory  is  sixteen 
hundred  and  sixty.  One  of  them  occupies  ten  acres  of  land. 
The  most  famous  temple  in  the  Empire  now  rises  over  the 
place  of  his  grave  on  which  is  inscribed,  "  The  Perfect  Sage." 
On  the  two  festivals  in  the  year  sacred  to  his  memory  there 
are  sacrificed  some  seventy  thousand  animals  of  different  kinds, 
and  twenty-seven  thousand  pieces  of  silk  are  burned  on  his 
altars.  Yet  his  religion  is  without  priests,  liturgy,  or  public 
worship,  except  on  these  two  occasions.  Kang-he,  the  second 
and  greatest  of  the  rulers  of  the  present  dynasty,  in  the  twenty- 
third  year  of  his  reign,  set  the  example  of  kneeling  thrice,  and 
each  time  laying  his  forehead  thrice  in  the  dust,  before  the 
image  of  the  sage.  At  first,  the  worship  of  Confucius  was  con- 
fined to  the  country  of  Loo,  but  in  A.D.  57  it  was  enacted  that 
sacrifices  should  be  offered  to  him  in  the  imperial  college,  and 
in  all  the  colleges  of  the  principal  territorial  divisions  through- 
out the  Empire. 

About  A.D.  628  began  the  custom,  which  continues  to  the 
present  day,  of  erecting  temples  to  him — separate  structures — 
in  connection  with  all  the  colleges,  or  examination-halls,  of  the 
country.  The  sage  is  not  alone  in  those  temples.  In  a  hall 


368          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

behind  the  principal  one,  occupied  by  himself,  are  the  tablets 
— in  some  cases  the  images — of  several  of  his  ancestors.  On  the 
first  day  of  every  month,  offerings  of  fruit  and  vegetables  are 
set  forth,  and  on  the  fifteenth  there  is  a  solemn  burning  of 
incense.  But  twice  a  year,  in  the  middle  months  of  spring  and 
autumn,  when  the  first  "  ting  "  day  of  the  month  comes  round, 
the  worship  of  Confucius  is  performed  with  peculiar  solemnity. 
At  the  imperial  college  the  Emperor  himself  is  required  to 
attend  in  state,  and  is  in  fact  the  principal  performer.  After 
all  the  preliminary  arrangements  have  been  made,  and  the 
Emperor  has  twice  knelt  and  six  times  bowed  his  head  to  the 
earth,  the  presence  of  Confucius'  spirit  is  invoked  in  these 
words,  "  Great  art  thou,  O  perfect  sage!  Thy  virtue  is  full ; 
thy  doctrine  is  complete.  Among  mortal  men  there  has  not 
been  thine  equal.  All  kings  honour  thee.  Thy  statutes  and 
laws  have  come  gloriously  down.  Thou  art  the  pattern  in  this 
imperial  school.  Reverently  have  the  sacrificial  vessels  been 
set  out.  Full  of  awe  we  sound  our  drums  and  bells." 

The  spirit  is  supposed  now  to  be  present,  and  the  service 
proceeds  'through  various  offerings  ;  when  the  first  of  these 
has  been  set  forth,  an  officer  reads  the  following,  which  is  the 
prayer  on  the  occasion:  "  On  this  ....  month  of  this  .... 
year,  I,  A.  B.,  the  Emperor,  offer  a  sacrifice  to  the  philosopher 
K'ung,  the  ancient  Teacher,  the  perfect  Sage,  and  say:  O 
Teacher,  in  virtue  equal  to  Heaven  and  Earth,  whose  doctrines 
embrace  the  past  time  and  the  present,  thou  didst  digest  and 
transmit  the  six  classics,  and  didst  hand  down  lessons  for  all 
generations  !  Now  in  this  second  month  of  spring  (or  autumn), 
in  reverent  observance  of  the  old  statutes,  with  victims,  silks, 
spirits,  and  fruits,  I  carefully  offer  sacrifice  to  thee.  With 
thee  are  associated  the  philosopher  Yen,  continuator  of  thee; 
the  philosopher  Ysang,  exhibitor  of  thy  fundamental  prin- 
ciples; the  philosopher  Ysze-sze,  transmitter  of  thee;  and  the 
philosopher  Mang,  second  to  thee.  May'st  thou  enjoy  the 
offerings  !  " 

I  need  not  go  on  to  enlarge  on  the  homage  which  the  em- 
perors of  China  render  to  Confucius.  It  could  not  be  more 
complete.  It  is  worship,  and  not  mere  homage.  He  was  un- 


Confucianism  369 

reasonably  neglected  when  alive.  He  is  now  unreasonably 
venerated  when  dead. 

At  the  present  day,  education  is  widely  diffused  throughout 
China.  In  no  other  country  is  the  schoolmaster  more  abroad, 
and  in  all  schools  it  is  Confucius  who  is  taught.  In  many 
schoolrooms  there  is  a  tablet  or  inscription  on  the  wall,  sacred 
to  the  sage;  and  every  pupil  is  required  on  coming  to  school 
on  the  morning  of  the  first  and  fifteenth  day  of  every  month 
to  bow  before  it  the  first  thing,  as  an  act  of  worship.  Thus, 
all  in  China  who  receive  the  slightest  tincture  of  learning  do 
so  at  the  fountain  of  Confucius.  They  learn  of  him,  and  do 
homage  to  him  at  once. 

During  his  lifetime  he  had  three  thousand  disciples.  Hund- 
reds of  millions  are  his  disciples  now.  For  two  thousand 
years  he  has  reigned  supreme,  the  undisputed  teacher  of  this 
most  populous  land.  Confucius  is  thus,  in  the  Empire  of 
China,  the  one  man  by  whom  all  possible  lessons  of  social 
virtue  and  political  wisdom  are  taught. 

Confucius  did  not  trouble  himself  to  account  for  the 
origin  of  man,  nor  did  he  pretend  to  know  about  his  here- 
after. 

As  to  creation  and  the  final  destiny  of  man,  we  suggest  that 
the  innate  consciousness  of  the  totality  of  the  human  race  is 
that  the  soul  is  immortal,  and  destined  to  an  eternity  of  more 
or  less  happiness,  in  proportion  as  man  discharges,  under  his 
free-agency,  the  laws  of  his  Maker  which  have  relation  to  his 
being,  as  they  are  revealed  to  him. 

This  is  all  that  God  has  ever  revealed  to  man  on  the  subject, 
and  it  is  most  unquestionably  all  that  it  is  well  for  him  to 
know.  If  man  could  know  with  certainty  all  that  would  take 
place  in  relation  to  his  future  life  on  earth,  it  would  entirely 
unfit  him  for  happiness. 

Among  the  things  which  Confucius  taught  were  "  truthful- 
ness and  sincerity,"  which  were  celebrated  as  highly  and 
demanded  as  stringently  by  him  as  ever  they  have  been  by  any 
Christian  moralist.  One  of  Confucius'  disciples  asked  if  there 
was  one  word  which  would  serve  as  a  rule  of  practice  for  all 
one's  life,  and  was  answered,  "  Is  not  reciprocity  such  a 


370         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

word  ? "  What  you  do  not  want  done  to  yourself,  do  not  unto 
others. 

The  people  in  China,  as  elsewhere,  believe,  what  is  the  be- 
ginning and  end  of  all  wisdom,  that  the  laws  of  the  moral 
order  of  the  world  correspond  to  the  universal  conscience. 

The  following  declarations  of  Confucius  and  others  among 
the  Chinese  were  made  five  hundred  years  before  Christ. 

The  last  years  of  the  life  of  Confucius  were  devoted  to 
editing  the  Sacred  Books,  or  Kings.  As  we  now  have  them, 
they  come  from  him.  Authentic  records  of  Chinese  history 
extend  back  to  2357  B.C.,  while  the  Chinese  philosophy  origin- 
ated with  Fuh-he,  who  lived  about  3327  B.C.  He  it  was  who 
substituted  writing  for  the  knotted  strings  which  before  formed 
the  only  means  of  record.  Confucius  edited  the  Yih-King,  the 
Shoo  King,  the  She- King,  and  the  Leke,  which  constitute  the 
whole  of  the  ancient  literature  of  China  which  has  come 
down  to  posterity. 

In  Shoo-King  a  personal  God  is  addressed.  The  oldest 
books  recognise  a  Divine  Person:  They  teach  that  there  is 
one  Supreme  Being,  who  is  omnipresent,  who  sees  all  things, 
and  has  an  intelligence  which  nothing  can  escape, — that  He 
wishes  men  to  live  together  in  peace  and  brotherhood.  He 
commands  not  only  right  actions,  but  pure  desires  and 
thoughts;  that  we  should  watch  all  our  behaviour,  and  main- 
tain a  grave  and  majestic  demeanour  "  which  is  like  a  palace 
in  which  virtue  resides,"  but  especially  that  we  should  guard 
the  tongue.  "  For  a  blemish  may  be  taken  out  of  a  diamond 
by  carefully  polishing  it;  but,  if  your  words  have  the  least 
blemish  there  is  no  way  to  efface  that."  **  Humility  is  the 
solid  foundation  of  all  the  virtues."  "  To  acknowledge  one's 
incapacity  is  the  way  to  be  soon  prepared  to  teach  others,  for 
from  the  moment  that  a  man  is  no  longer  full  of  himself,  nor 
puffed  up  with  empty  pride,  whatever  good  he  learns  in  the 
morning  he  practises  before  night."  "  Heaven  penetrates  to 
the  bottom  of  our  hearts,  like  light  into  a  dark  chamber.  We 
must  conform  ourselves  to  it,  till  we  are  like  two  instruments 
of  music  tuned  to  the  same  pitch.  We  must  join  ourselves 
with  it,  like  two  tablets  which  appear  but  one.  We  must  re- 


Confucianism  371 

ceive  its  gifts  the  very  moment  its  hand  is  open  to  bestow. 
Our  irregular  passions  shut  up  the  door  of  our  souls  against 
God." 

"Man  has  received  his  nature  from  Heaven.  Conduct  in 
accordance  with  that  nature  constitutes  what  is  right  and 
true, — is  a  pursuing  of  the  proper  path.  The  cultivation  or 
regulation  of  that  path  is  what  is  called  instruction. 

"  Man  has  received  from  heaven  a  moral  nature  by  which 
he  is  constituted  a  law  to  himself ;  over  this  nature  man  re- 
quires to  exercise  a  jealous  watchfulness;  and  as  he  possesses 
it,  absolutely  and  relatively,  in  perfection,  or  attains  to  such 
possession  of  it,  he  becomes  invested  with  highest  dignity  and 
power. 

"  The  way  of  the  superior  man  reaches  far  and  wide,  and 
yet  is  secret,  the  path  of  duty  is  to  be  pursued  everywhere 
and  at  all  times  while  yet  the  secret  spring  and  rule  of  it  is 
near  at  hand,  in  the  Heaven-conferred  nature,  the  individual 
consciousness,  with  which  no  stranger  can  intermeddle. 

"  When  one  cultivates  to  the  utmost  the  moral  principles  of 
his  nature,  and  exercises  them  on  the  principle  of  reciprocity, 
he  is  not  far  from  the  path.  What  you  do  not  like  when  done 
to  yourself,  do  not  do  to  others:  serve  my  father  as  I  would 
require  my  son  to  serve  me;  serve  my  elder  brother  as  I  would 
require  my  younger  brother  to  serve  me  ;  set  the  example 
in  behaving  to  a  friend  as  I  would  require  him  to  behave 
to  me. 

"  Be  earnest  in  practising  the  ordinary  virtues,  and  careful 
in  speaking  about  them;  if  in  his  practice  he  has  anything  de- 
fective, the  superior  man  dares  not  but  exert  himself,  and  if 
in  his  words  he  has  any  excess,  he  dares  not  allow  himself 
such  licence;  have  respect  to  his  actions,  and  his  actions  have 
respect  to  his  words;  is  it  not  just  an  entire  sincerity  which 
marks  the  superior  man  ?" 

"  The  duties  of  universal  application  "  are  those  between 
husband  and  wife,  father  and  son,  elder  and  younger  brother, 
and  friends. 

The  sincere  or  perfect  man  is  he  who  satisfies  completely 
all  the  requirements  of  duty  in  the  various  relations  of 


372          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

society,  and  in  the  exercise  of  government.  "  There  is  gov- 
ernment when  the  prince  is  prince,  and  the  minister  is  minis- 
ter, when  the  father  is  father,  and  the  son  is  son." 

There  is  a  sufficient  foundation  in  nature  for  government  in 
the  several  relations  of  society,  and  if  those  be  maintained 
and  developed  according  to  their  relative  significancy,  it  is 
sure  to  obtain.  This  was  a  first  principle  in  the  political  ethics 
of  Confucius. 

The  moment  the  ruler  ceases  to  be  a  minister  of  God  for 
good  and  does  not  administer  a  government  that  is  beneficial 
to  the  people,  he  forfeits  the  title  by  which  he  holds  the 
throne,  and  perseverance  in  oppression  will  surely  lead  to  his 
overthrow. 

"  Recompense  injury  with  justice,  and  recompense  kindness 
with  kindness.  He  who  recompenses  injury  with  kindness  is 
a  man  who  is  careful  of  his  person.  Filial  piety  and  fraternal 
submission!  are  they  not  the  root  of  all  benevolent  actions?" 
"  Fine  words  and  an  insinuating  appearance  are  seldom  asso- 
ciated with  true  virtue." 

The  philosopher  said:  "I  daily  examine  myself  on  two 
points:  whether,  in  transacting  business  for  others,  I  may 
not  have  been  faithful;  whether,  in  intercourse  with  friends 
I  may  not  have  been  sincere." 

"  A  youth,  when  at  home,  should  be  filial,  and  abroad, 
respectful  to  his  elders.  He  should  overflow  in  love  to  all, 
and  cultivate  the  friendship  of  the  good. 

"  Hold  faithfulness  and  sincerity  as  first  principles. 

"  When  you  have  faults,  do  not  fear  to  abandon  them." 

Tsze-kung  said,  "What  do  you  pronounce  concerning  the 
poor  man  who  yet  does  not  flatter,  and  the  rich  man  who 
is  not  proud  ? "  The  Master  replied,  "  They  will  do;  but  they 
are  not  equal  to  him,  who,  though  poor,  is  yet  cheerful,  and 
to  him,  who,  though  rich,  loves  the  rules  of  propriety." 

"  He  who  exercises  government  by  means  of  his  virtue,  may 
be  compared  to  the  north  polar  star,  which  keeps  its  place 
and  all  the  stars  turn  towards  it."  In  the  Book  of  Poetry 
are  three  hundred  pieces,  but  the  design  of  them  all  may  be 
embraced  in  Mat  one  sentence — "Have  no  depraved  thoughts." 


Confucianism  373 

The  duties  of  filial  piety  must  be  performed  with  a  cheerful 
countenance. 

The  Duke  Gae  asked,  saying,  "  What  should  be  done  in 
order  to  secure  the  submission  of  the  people  ? "  Confucius 
replied,  "Advance  the  upright  and  set  aside  the  crooked, 
then  the  people  will  submit.  Advance  the  crooked  and  set 
aside  the  upright,  then  the  people  will  not  submit." 

Ke  K'ang  asked  how  to  cause  the  people  to  reverence  their 
ruler,  to  be  faithful  to  him,  and  to  urge  themselves  to  virtue. 
The  Master  said,  "Let  him  preside  over  them  with  gravity; 
then  they  will  reverence  him.  Let  him  be  filial  and  kind  to 
all;  then  they  will  be  faithful  to  him.  Let  him  advance  the 
good  and  teach  the  incompetent;  then  they  will  eagerly  seek 
to  be  virtuous." 

The  Master  said:  "  I  do  not  know  how  a  man  without  truth- 
fulness is  to  get  on.  How  can  a  large  carriage  be  made  to  go 
without  the  crossbar  for  yoking  the  oxen  to,  or  a  small  car- 
riage without  the  arrangement  for  yoking  the  horses  ? " 

The  Master  said:  "For  a  man  to  sacrifice  to  a  spirit  which 
does  not  belong  to  him  is  flattery. 

"  To  see  what  is  right  and  not  to  do  it,  is  want  of  courage. 

"  He  who  offends  against  Heaven  has  none  to  whom  he  can 
pray. 

"  If  the  will  be  set  on  virtue  there  will  be  no  practice  of 
wickedness. 

"  Riches  and  honours  are  what  men  desire.  If  it  cannot  be 
obtained  in  the  proper  way,  they  should  not  be  held.  Poverty 
and  meanness  are  what  men  dislike.  If  it  cannot  be  avoided 
in  the  proper  way,  they  should  be  endured. 

"  The  superior  man  does  not,  even  for  the  space  of  a  single 
meal,  act  contrary  to  virtue.  In  moments  of  haste,  he  cleaves 
to  it.  In  seasons  of  danger  he  cleaves  to  it. 

"  If  a  man  in  the  morning  hear  the  right  way,  he  may  die 
in  the  evening  without  regret. 

"  A  man  should  say,  I  am  not  concerned  that  I  have  no 
place — I  am  concerned  how  I  may  fit  myself  for  one.  I  am 
not  concerned  that  I  am  not  known, — I  seek  to  be  worthy  to 
be  known.  My  doctrine  is  that  of  an  all-pervading  unity. 


374         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

"  Be  true  to  the  principles  of  our  nature  and  the  benevolent 
exercise  of  them  to  others. 

"  When  we  see  men  of  worth,  we  should  think  of  equalling 
them;  when  we  see  men  of  a  contrary  character,  we  should 
turn  inwards  and  examine  ourselves. 

"  The  cautious  seldom  err. 

"  The  superior  man  wishes  to  be  slow  in  his  words  and 
earnest  in  his  conduct. 

"Virtue  is  not  left  to  stand  alone.  He  who  practises  it 
will  have  neighbours." 

The  Master  said:  "I  have  not  seen  a  firm  and  unbending 
man.  Some  one  replied,  "  There  is  Shin  Ch'ang."  "  Ch'ang," 
said  the  Master,  "  is  under  the  influence  of  his  lusts;  how  can 
he  be  firm  and  unbending  ? " 

The  Master  said  of  Tsze-ch'an  that  he  had  four  of  the 
characteristics  of  a  superior  man: — in  his  conduct  of  himself, 
he  was  humble;  in  serving  his  superiors,  he  was  respectful;  in 
nourishing  the  people,  he  was  kind;  in  ordering  the  people, 
he  was  just. 

"  In  regard  to  the  aged,  give  them  rest;  in  regard  to 
friends,  show  them  sincerity;  in  regard  to  the  young,  treat 
them  tenderly." 

The  Duke  Gae  asked  which  of  the  disciples  love  to  learn. 
Confucius  replied  to  him,  there  was  Yen  Hwuy;  he  loved  to 
learn.  He  did  not  transfer  his  anger;  he  did  not  repeat  a 
fault.  Unfortunately,  his  appointed  time  was  short  and  he 
died;  and  now  there  is  not  such  another.  I  have  not  yet 
heard  of  any  one  who  loves  to  learn  as  he  did. 

"  They  who  know  the  truth  are  not  equal  to  those  who  love 
it,  and  they  who  love  it  are  not  equal  to  those  who  find  delight 
it  it." 

Fan  Ch'e  asked  what  constituted  wisdom.  The  Master 
said:  "To  give  one's  self  earnestly  to  the  duties  due  to  men. 
The  man  of  virtue  makes  the  difficulty  to  be  overcome  his  first 
business,  and  success  only  a  subsequent  consideration. 

"The  wise  are  active;  the  virtuous  are  tranquil.  The  wise 
are  joyful;  the  virtuous  are  long-lived. 

"The  superior  man,  extensively  studying  all  learning,  and 


Confucianism  375 

keeping  himself  under  the  restraint  of  the  rules  of  propriety, 
may  thus  likewise  not  overstep  what  is  right. 

"  Perfect  is  the  virtue  which  is  according  to  the  Constant 
Mean! 

"  The  man  of  perfect  virtue,  wishing  to  be  established  him- 
self, seeks  also  to  establish  others  ;  wishing  to  be  enlarged 
himself,  he  seeks  also  to  enlarge  others. 

"To  be  able  to  judge  of  others  by  what  is  nigh  in  our- 
selves;— this  may  be  called  the  art  of  virtue." 

The  Master  said:  "  The  leaving  virtue  without  proper  culti- 
vation; the  not  thoroughly  discussing  what  is  learned;  not 
being  able  to  move  towards  righteousness  of  which  a  know- 
ledge is  gained;  and  not  being  able  to  change  what  is  not 
good; — these  are  the  things  which  occasion  me  solicitude. 

"  Let  the  will  be  set  on  the  path  of  duty. 

"  Let  every  attainment  in  what  is  good  be  firmly  grasped. 

"  Let  perfect  virtue  be  accorded  with. 

"  Let  relaxation  and  enjoyment  be  found  in  the  polite 
arts." 

The  Master  said,  "  With  coarse  rice  to  eat,  with  water  to 
drink,  and  my  bended  arm  for  a  pillow  —  I  have  still  joy  in 
the  midst  of  these  things.  Riches  and  honours  acquired  by 
unrighteousness  are  to  me  as  a  floating  cloud. 

"  Do  you  think,  my  disciples,  that  I  have  any  concealments  ? 
I  conceal  nothing  from  you.  Could  I  see  a  man  possessed  of 
constancy,  that  would  satisfy  me. 

"  Having  not  and  yet  affecting  to  have,  empty  and  yet 
affecting  to  be  full,  straitened  and  yet  affecting  to  be  at  ease — 
it  is  difficult  with  such  characteristics  to  have  constancy. 

"  Hearing  much  and  selecting  what  is  good  and  following  it, 
seeing  much  and  keeping  it  in  memory:  this  is  the  second  style 
of  knowledge. 

"  Is  virtue  a  thing  remote  ?  I  wish  to  be  virtuous,  and  lo  ! 
virtue  is  at  hand." 

The  Master  said,  "  The  sage  and  the  man  of  perfect  vir- 
tue—  how  dare  I  rank  myself  with  them?  It  may  simply  be 
said  of  me,  that  I  strive  to  become  such  without  satiety,  and 
teach  others  without  weariness. 


376         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

"  When  those  who  are  in  high  stations  perform  well  all  their 
duties  to  their  relations,  the  people  are  aroused  to  virtue. 

"  There  are  three  principles  of  conduct  which  the  man  of 
high  rank  should  consider  specially  important:  that  in  his 
deportment  and  manner  he  keep  from  violence  and  heedless- 
ness;  that  in  regulating  his  countenance  he  keep  near  to  sin- 
cerity; and  that  in  his  words  and  tones  he  keep  far  from 
lowness  and  impropriety. 

"  It  is  by  the  Odes  that  the  mind  is  aroused. 

"  It  is  by  the  Rules  of  propriety  that  the  character  is  estab- 
lished. 

"  It  is  from  Music  that  the  finish  is  received." 

The  Master  said,  "It  is  not  easy  to  find  a  man  who  has 
learned  for  three  years  without  coming  to  the  good. 

"With  sincere  faith  he  unites  the  love  of  learning;  hold- 
ing firm  to  death,  he  is  perfecting  the  excellence  of  his 
course. 

"  Learn  as  if  you  could  not  reach  your  object,  and  were 
always  fearing  also  lest  you  should  lose  it." 

There  were  four  things  from  which  the  Master  was  entirely 
free.  He  had  no  foregone  conclusions,  no  arbitrary  prede- 
terminations, no  obstinacy,  and  no  egotism. 

"  The  prosecution  of  learning  may  be  compared  to  what 
may  happen  in  raising  a  mound.  It  may  be  compared  to 
throwing  down  the  earth  on  the  level  ground.  Though  but 
one  basketful  is  thrown  at  a  time,  the  advancing  with  it  is  my 
own  going  forward. 

"  Hold  faithfulness  and  sincerity  as  first  principles. 

"  The  commander  of  the  forces  of  a  large  State  may  be 
carried  off,  but  the  will  of  even  a  common  man  cannot  be 
taken  from  him. 

"The  wise  are  free  from  perplexities;  the  virtuous  from 
anxiety ;  and  the  bold  from  fear. 

"  A  great  minister  is  one  who  serves  his  prince  according 
to  what  is  right,  and  when  he  finds  he  cannot  do  so,  retires. 

"  Look  not  at  what  is  contrary  to  propriety  ;  listen  not  to 
what  is  contrary  to  propriety;  speak  not  what  is  contrary  to 
propriety;  make  no  movement  which  is  contrary  to  propriety." 


-,--_  ----  /r^^s^r^ 


Confucianism  377 


Chung-kung  asked  about  perfect  virtue.  The  Master  said, 
"  It  is  when  you  go  abroad,  to  behave  to  every  one  as  if  you 
were  receiving  a  great  guest;  not  to  do  to  others  as  you  would 
not  wish  done  to  yourself;  to  have  no  murmuring  against  you 
in  the  country,  and  none  in  the  family. 

"  Be  cautious  and  slow  in  speech. 

"  When  a  man  feels  the  difficulty  of  doing,  can  he  be  other 
than  cautious  and  slow  in  speaking  ? 

"  When  internal  examination  discovers  nothing  wrong,  what 
is  there  to  be  anxious  about,  what  is  there  to  fear  ? 

"  He  with  whom  neither  slander  that  gradually  soaks  into 
the  mind,  nor  statements  that  startle  like  a  wound  in  the  flesh, 
are  successful,  may  be  called  intelligent,  indeed,  may  be  called 
far-seeing. 

"  Hold  faithfulness  and  sincerity  as  first  principles,  and  be 
moving  continually  to  what  is  right:  —  this  is  the  way  to  exalt 
one's  virtue. 

"  The  art  of  governing  is  to  keep  its  affairs  before  the  mind 
without  weariness,  and  to  practise  them  with  undeviating  con- 
sistency. 

"  The  superior  man  seeks  to  perfect  the  admirable  qualities 
of  men. 

"  To  govern,  means  to  rectify.  If  you  lead  on  the  people 
with  correctness,  who  will  not  dare  to  be  correct  ? 

"  The  man  of  distinction  is  solid  and  straightforward,  and 
loves  righteousness. 

"  To  assail  one's  own  wickedness  and  not  assail  that  of 
others  —  this  is  the  way  to  correct  cherished  evil.  For  a 
morning's  anger  to  disregard  one's  own  life,  and  involve  that 
of  one's  parents  —  is  not  this  a  case  of  delusion  ?  " 

Fan  Ch'e  asked  about  benevolence.  The  Master  said,  "It  is 
to  love  all  men. 

"  Employ  the  upright  and  put  aside  all  the  crooked  ;  in  this 
way,  the  crooked  can  be  made  to  be  upright. 

"  Faithfully  admonish  your  friend,  and  kindly  try  to  lead 
him. 

"  When  punishments  are  not  properly  awarded,  the  people 
do  not  know  how  to  move  hand  or  foot. 


One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

"  If  he  cannot  rectify  himself,  what  has  he  to  do  with  recti- 
fying others  ? 

"  In  the  management  of  business,  to  be  reverently  atten- 
tive; in  intercourse  with  others,  to  be  strictly  sincere. 

"  The  ardent  will  advance  and  lay  hold  of  truth  ;  the 
cautiously  -  decided  will  keep  themselves  from  what  is 
wrong  . 

"  The  superior  man  is  affable,  but  not  adulatory;  the  mean 
is  adulatory,  but  not  affable. 

"  The  superior  man  has  a  dignified  ease  without  pride.  The 
mean  man  has  pride  without  a  dignified  ease. 

"  The  firm,  the  enduring,  the  simple,  and  the  modest  are 
near  to  virtue. 

"  He  who  speaks  without  modesty  will  find  it  difficult  to 
make  his  words  good. 

"  The  way  of  the  superior  man  is  threefold.  Virtuous,  he 
is  free  from  anxieties;  wise,  he  is  free  from  perplexities;  bold, 
he  is  free  from  fear." 

"  What  do  you  say  concerning  the  principle  that  injury 
should  be  recompensed  with  kindness  ?  " 

The  Master  said,  "  With  what  then  will  you  recompense 
kindness  ? 

"  Recompense  injury  with  justice,  and  recompense  kind- 
ness with  kindness. 

"  If  a  man  take  no  thought  about  what  is  distant,  he  will 
find  sorrow  near  at  hand. 

"The  superior  man  in  everything  considers  righteousness 
to  be  essential.  He  performs  it  according  to  the  rules  of  pro- 
priety. He  brings  it  forth  in  humility.  He  completes  it  with 
sincerity. 

"What  the  superior  man  seeks  is  in  himself.  What  the 
mean  man  seeks  is  in  others." 

"  Is  there  one  word  which  may  serve  as  a  rule  of  practice 
for  all  one's  life  ?  "  The  Master  said,  "  Is  not  Reciprocity  such 
a  word  ?  What  you  do  not  want  done  to  yourself,  do  not  do 
to  others. 

"  Specious  words  confound  virtue.  Want  of  forbearance  in 
small  matters  confounds  great  plans. 


Confucianism  379 

"  To  have  faults  and  not  to  reform  them, —  this  indeed 
should  be  pronounced  having  faults. 

"By  nature,  men  are  nearly  alike;  by  practice,  they  get  to 
be  wide  apart. 

"  If  you  are  grave,  you  will  not  be  treated  with  disrespect. 
If  you  are  generous,  you  will  win  all.  If  you  are  sincere, 
people  will  repose  trust  in  you.  If  you  are  earnest,  you  will 
accomplish  much.  If  you  are  kind,  this  will  enable  you  to 
employ  the  services  of  others. 

"Without  recognising  the  ordinances  of  Heaven,  it  is  im- 
possible to  be  a  superior  man. 

"  The  illustrious  virtue  is  the  virtuous  nature  which  man 
derives  from  Heaven. 

"  The  cultivation  of  the  person  is  the  prime,  radical  thing 
required  from  all 

"  Let  there  be  daily  renovation.  What  truly  is  within  will 
be  manifested  without. 

"  Riches  adorn  a  house,  and  virtue  adorns  the  person.  The 
cultivation  of  the  person  depends  on  the  rectifying  of  the 
mind.  The  regulation  of  one's  family  depends  on  the  cultiva- 
tion of  his  person. 

"  There  are  few  men  in  the  world  who  love,  and  at  the  same 
time  know  the  bad  qualities  of  the  object  of  their  love,  or 
who  hate,  and  yet  know  the  excellences  of  the  object  of  their 
hatred. 

"  Act  as  if  you  were  watching  over  an  infant.  If  a  mother 
is  really  anxious  about  it,  though  she  may  not  hit  exactly  the 
wants  of  her  infant,  she  will  not  be  far  from  doing  so. 

"  From  the  loving  example  of  one  family  a  whole  State  be- 
comes loving,  and  from  its  courtesies,  the  whole  State  becomes 
courteous. 

"  The  ruler  must  himself  be  possessed  of  the  good  qualities, 
and  then  he  may  require  them  in  the  people.  When  the  ruler, 
as  a  father,  a  son,  and  a  brother,  is  a  model,  then  the  people 
imitate  him. 

"  When  the  sovereign  behaves  to  his  aged,  as  the  aged  should 
be  behaved  to,  the  people  become  filial;  when  the  sovereign 
behaves  to  his  elders,  as  elders  should  be  behaved  to,  the 


380         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

people  learn  brotherly  submission;  when  the  sovereign  treats 
compassionately  the  young  and  helpless,  the  people  do  the 
same.  Thus  the  ruler  has  a  principle  with  which,  as  a  meas- 
uring square,  he  may  regulate  his  conduct.  The  ruler's  words 
going  forth  contrary  to  right  will  come  back  to  him  in  the 
same  way,  and  wealth,  gotten  by  improper  ways,  will  take  its 
departure  by  the  same. 

"To  love  those  whom  men  hate,  and  to  hate  those  whom 
men  love;  this  is  to  outrage  the  natural  feeling  of  man. 

"  Let  there  be  activity  in  the  production,  and  economy  in 
the  expenditure.  Then  the  wealth  will  always  be  sufficient. 

"What  Heaven  has  conferred  is  called  THE  NATURE;  an 
accordance  with  this  nature  is  called  THE  PATH  of  duty;  the 
regulation  of  path  is  called  INSTRUCTION. 

"  While  there  are  no  stirrings  of  pleasure,  anger,  sorrow,  or 
joy,  the  mind  may  be  said  to  be  in  the  state  of  Equilibrium. 
When  those  feelings  have  been  stirred  and  they  act  in  their 
due  degree,  there  ensues  what  may  be  called  the  state  of  Har- 
mony. This  Equilibrium  is  the  great  root  from  which  grow 
all  the  human  actings  in  the  world,  and  this  Harmony  is  the 
universal  path  which  they  all  should  pursue. 

"  Let  the  states  of  equilibrium  and  harmony  exist  in  perfec- 
tion, and  a  happy  order  will  prevail  throughout  heaven  and 
earth,  and  all  things  will  be  nourished  and  flourish. 

"  To  show  forbearance  and  gentleness  in  teaching  others, 
and  not  to  revenge  unreasonable  conduct. 

"  When  men  try  to  pursue  a  course  which  is  far  from  the 
indications  of  consciousness,  this  course  cannot  be  considered 
THE  PATH. 

"  In  hewing  an  axe-handle,  the  pattern  is  not  far  off.  We 
grasp  one  axe-handle  to  hew  the  other,  and  yet,  if  we  look 
askance  from  the  one  to  the  other,  we  may  consider  them 
as  apart. 

"  When  one  cultivates  to  the  utmost  the  principles  of  his 
nature,  and  exercises  them  on  the  principle  of  reciprocity,  he 
is  not  far  from  the  path. 

"  The  superior  man  can  find  himself  in  no  situation  in 
which  he  is  not  himself. 


Confucianism 

"  Happy  union  with  wife  and  children  is  like  the  music  of 
lutes  and  harps.  When  there  is  concord  among  brethren,  the 
harmony  is  delightful  and  enduring. 

"How  abundantly  do  spiritual  beings  display  the  powers 
that  belong  to  them. 

"We  look  for  them,  but  do  not  see  them;  we  listen  to,  but 
do  not  hear  them;  yet  they  enter  into  all  things,  and  there  is 
nothing  without  them;  like  overflowing  water,  they  seem  to  be 
over  the  heads,  and  on  the  right  and  left  of  their  worship- 
pers." 

It  is  said  in  the  Book  of  Poetry :  "  The  approaches  of  the 
spirits  you  cannot  surmise;  and  can  you  treat  them  with  in- 
difference ? 

"  Such  is  the  manifestness  of  what  is  minute  !  Such  is  the 
impossibility  of  repressing  the  outgoings  of  sincerity. 

"  He  who  is  greatly  virtuous  will  be  sure  to  receive  the  ap- 
pointment of  Heaven. 

**  The  administration  of  government  lies  in  getting  proper 
men.  Such  men  are  to  be  got  by  means  of  the  ruler's  own 
character.  That  character  is  to  be  cultivated  by  his  treading 
in  the  ways  of  duty.  And  the  treading  those  ways  of  duty  is 
to  be  cultivated  by  the  cherishing  of  benevolence. 

"  Benevolence  is  the  characteristic  element  of  humanity. 
Righteousness  is  the  accordance  of  actions  with  what  is  right. 

"  If  principles  of  conduct  have  been  previously  determined, 
the  practice  of  them  will  be  inexhaustible. 

"  Sincerity  is  the  way  of  Heaven.  The  attainment  of  sin- 
cerity is  the  way  of  men.  To  this  attainment  there  are  re- 
quisite the  extensive  study  of  what  is  good,  accurate  inquiry 
about  it,  careful  reflection  on  it,  the  clear  discrimination  of  it, 
and  the  earnest  practice  of  it. 

"  Let  a  man  proceed  in  this  way,  and,  though  dull,  he  will 
surely  become  intelligent;  though  weak,  he  will  surely  become 
strong.  It  is  only  he  who  is  possessed  of  the  most  complete 
sincerity  that  can  give  full  development  to  his  nature. 

"  He  who  cultivates  to  the  utmost  the  shoots  of  goodness  in 
him.  From  those  he  can  attain  to  the  possession  of  sincerity. 
This  sincerity  becomes  apparent.  From  being  apparent  it 


382         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

becomes  manifest.  From  being  manifest  it  becomes  brilliant. 
Brilliant,  it  affects  others.  Affecting  others,  they  are  changed 
by  it.  Changed  by  it,  they  are  transformed. 

"  Heaven  and  earth  are  without  any  doubleness,  and  so 
they  produce  things  in  a  manner  that  is  unfathomable. 

"  What  needs  no  display  is  virtue. 

"  Learn  the  past  and  you  will  know  the  future. 

"  Grieve  not  that  men  know  not  you;  grieve  that  you  know 
not  men. 

"The  essence  of  knowledge  is,  having  it,  to  apply  it;  not 
having  it,  to  confess  your  ignorance. 

"  Worship  as  though  the  Deity  were  present. 

"  If  my  mind  is  not  engaged  in  my  worship,  it  is  as  though 
I  worshipped  not." 

MEXICO  AND  PERU 

The  social  condition  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  at  the  time  of  the 
discovery  of  America,  demonstrates  what  is  claimed  in  the  in- 
troduction of  this  work,  that  similar  usages  make  their  appear- 
ance spontaneously  in  the  progress  of  civilisation  of  different 
countries,  showing  how  little  they  depend  on  accident,  how 
closely  they  are  connected  with  the  nature  and  organisation, 
and  therefore  with  the  necessities  of  man.  From  important 
ideas  and  great  institutions  down  to  the  most  trifling  incidents 
of  domestic  life,  so  striking  is  the  parallel  between  the  Ameri- 
can aborigines  and  the  Europeans  that  with  difficulty  do  we  di- 
vest ourselves  of  the  impression  that  there  must  have  been  some 
intercommunication.  Each  was,  however,  pursuing  an  isolated 
and  spontaneous  progress;  and  yet  how  closely  does  the  pict- 
ure of  life  in  the  New  World  answer  to  that  in  the  Old!  The 
monarch  of  Mexico  lived  in  pomp;  wore  a  golden  crown  re- 
splendent with  gems;  was  aided  in  his  duties  by  a  privy  coun- 
cil; the  great  lords  held  their  lands  of  him  by  the  obligation 
of  military  service.  In  him  resided  the  legislative  power,  yet 
he  was  subject  to  the  laws  of  the  realm.  The  judges  held 
their  office  independently  of  him,  and  were  not  liable  to  re- 
moval by  him.  The  laws  were  reduced  to  writing,  which, 


Mexico  and  Peru  383 

though  only  a  system  of  hieroglyphics,  served  its  purpose  so 
well  that  the  Spaniards  were  obliged  to  admit  its  validity  in 
their  courts  and  to  found  a  professorship  for  perpetuating 
a  knowledge  of  it.  Marriage  was  regarded  as  an  important 
social  engagement.  Divorces  were  granted  with  difficulty. 

In  the  human  hives  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  America,  the  bees 
were  marshalled  in  the  same  way  and  were  instinctively  build- 
ing their  combs  alike. 

The  religious  state,  that  is,  true  religion,  is  a  reflection  of 
that  of  Europe  and  Asia,  as  also  their  theology.  Their  wor- 
ship was  mixed  up  with  imposing  ceremonial.  The  common 
people  had  a  mythology  of  many  gods,  but  the  higher  classes 
were  strictly  Unitarian,  acknowledging  one  almighty,  invisible 
Creator.  Of  the  popular  deities,  the  god  of  war  was  the  chief. 
With  sedulous  zeal  the  clergy  engrossed  the  duty  of  public 
education,  thereby  keeping  society  in  their  grasp. 

The  condition  of  astronomy  in  Mexico  is  illustrated,  as  it  is 
in  Egypt,  by  the  calendar.  At  the  conquest,  the  Mexican 
calendar  was  in  a  better  condition  than  the  Spanish.  They 
had  sun-dials  for  determining  the  hour,  and  also  instruments 
for  the  solstices  and  the  equinoxes.  They  had  ascertained 
the  globular  form  of  the  earth  and  the  obliquity  of  the  ecliptic. 
Their  agriculture  was  superior  to  that  of  Europe;  there  was 
nothing  in  the  Old  World  to  compare  with  the  menageries  and 
botanical  gardens. 

They  employed  a  currency  of  gold  dust,  pieces  of  tin,  and 
bags  of  cacao.  In  their  domestic  economy,  though  polygamy 
was  permitted,  it  was  in  practice  confined  to  the  wealthy. 
The  women  did  not  work  abroad,  but  occupied  themselves  in 
spinning,  embroidering,  feather-work,  music.  Ablution  was 
resorted  to  both  before  and  after  meals;  perfumes  were  used 
at  the  toilet.  The  Mexicans  gave  to  Europe  tobacco,  snuff, 
the  turkey,  chocolate,  cochineal.  Like  us,  they  had  in  their 
entertainments  solid  dishes,  with  suitable  condiments,  gravies, 
sauces,  and  desserts  of  pastries,  confections,  fruits,  both  fresh 
and  preserved.  They  had  chafing-dishes  of  silver  or  gold. 
Like  us,  they  knew  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks;  like  us, 
they  not  infrequently  took  them  to  excess;  like  us,  they 


384         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

heightened  their  festivities  with  dancing  and  music.  They 
had  theatrical  and  pantomimic  shows.  At  Tezcuco  there  was 
a  council  of  music,  which,  moreover,  exercised  a  censorship 
on  philosophical  works,  as  those  of  astronomy  and  history. 
In  that  city  North  American  civilisation  had  reached  its  height. 
The  king's  palace  was  a  wonderful  work  of  art.  It  was  said 
that  two  hundred  thousand  men  were  employed  in  its 
construction. 

The  prevailing  religious  feeling  is  expressed  by  the  senti- 
ments of  one  of  the  kings,  many  of  whom  had  prided  themselves 
in  their  poetical  skill:  "  Let  us,"  he  says,  "  aspire  to  that  heaven 
where  all  is  eternal,  and  where  corruption  never  comes."  He 
taught  his  children  not  to  confide  in  idols,  but  only  to  conform 
to  the  outward  worship  of  them  in  deference  to  public  opinion. 

To  the  preceding  description  of  the  social  condition  of 
Mexico  we  shall  add  a  similar  brief  account  of  that  of  Peru; 
for  the  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  a  comparison  of  the 
spontaneous  process  of  civilisation  in  these  two  countries  with 
the  process  in  Europe  are  of  importance  to  the  attainment  of 
a  just  idea  of  the  development  of  mankind.  The  most  com- 
petent authorities  declare  that  the  Mexicans  and  Peruvians 
were  ignorant  of  each  other's  existence. 

The  state  of  Peruvian  civilisation  is  at  once  demonstrated 
when  it  is  said  that  these  mountain  slopes  had  become  a 
garden,  immense  terraces  having  been  constructed  wherever 
required,  and  irrigation  on  a  grander  scale  than  that  of  Egypt 
carried  on  by  gigantic  canals  and  aqueducts.  Advantage  was 
aken  of  the  different  mean  annual  temperatures  at  different 
altitudes  to  pursue  the  cultivation  of  various  products,  for 
difference  in  height  topographically  answers  to  difference  in 
latitude  geographically;  and  thus,  in  a  narrow  space,  the  Peru- 
vians had  every  variety  of  temperature,  from  that  correspond- 
ing to  the  hottest  portions  of  Southern  Europe  to  that  of 
Lapland.  In  the  mountains  of  Peru,  as  has  been  graphically 
said,  man  sees  "  all  the  stars  of  the  heavens  and  all  the  families 
of  plants."  On  plateaux  at  a  great  elevation  above  the  sea 
there  were  villages  and  even  cities.  Thus  the  plain  upon  which 
Quito  stands,  under  the  equator,  is  nearly  ten  thousand  feet 


Mexico  and  Peru  385 

high.  So  great  was  their  industry  that  the  Peruvians  had  gar- 
dens and  orchards  above  the  clouds;  and  on  ranges  still  higher 
flocks  of  lamas,  in  regions  bordering  on  the  limit  of  perpetual 
snow. 

Through  the  entire  length  of  the  empire  two  great  military 
roads  were  built;  one  on  the  plateau,  the  other  on  the  shore. 
The  former,  for  nearly  two  thousand  miles,  crossed  sierras 
covered  with  snow,  was  thrown  over  ravines,  or  went  through 
tunnels  in  the  rocks. 

The  public  couriers,  as  in  Mexico,  could  make,  if  necessary, 
two  hundred  miles  a  day.  Of  these  roads,  Humboldt  says 
that  they  were  among  the  most  useful  and  most  stupendous 
ever  executed  by  the  hand  of  man. 

In  Cuzco,  the  metropolis,  was  the  imperial  residence  of  the 
Inca  and  the  Temple  of  the  Sun.  It  contained  edifices  which 
excited  the  amazement  of  the  Spanish. 

The  Peruvian  religion  ostensibly  consisted  of  a  worship  of 
the  sun,  but  the  higher  classes  had  already  become  emanci- 
pated from  such  a  material  association  and  recognised  the  ex- 
istence of  one  almighty,  invisible  God.  They  expected  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  and  the  continuance  of  the  soul  in  a 
future  life. 

To  the  Supreme  Being  but  one  temple  was  dedicated.  It 
was  in  a  sacred  valley  to  which  pilgrimages  were  made. 

Besides  the  sun,  the  visible  god,  other  celestial  bodies  were 
worshipped  in  a  subordinate  way. 

As  to  the  people,  nowhere  else  in  the  whole  world  was  such 
an  extraordinary  policy  of  supervision  practised. 

They  were  divided  into  groups  of  ten,  fifty,  one  hundred,  five 
hundred,  one  thousand,  ten  thousand,  and  over  the  last  an  Inca 
noble  was  placed.  Through  this  system  a  rigid  centralisation 
was  ensured,  the  Inca  being  the  pivot  upon  which  all  the  na- 
tional affairs  turned.  It  was  an  absolutism  worthy  of  the  ad- 
miration of  many  existing  European  nations. 

The  Inca,  at  once  emperor  and  pope,  was  enabled  in  that 
double  capacity  to  exert  a  rigorous  patriarchal  rule  over  his 
people,  who  were  treated  like  children,  not  suffered  to  be 

oppressed.     Industry  was  encouraged  ;    for,    with  a  worldly 

25 


386         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

wisdom  which  no  other  nation  presents,  labour  was  here  ac- 
knowledged not  only  as  a  means  but  also  as  an  end.  It  was 
the  boast  of  the  system  that  every  one  lived  exempt  from 
social  suffering, — that  all  enjoyed  competence. 

In  their  extraordinary  provisions  for  agriculture,  the  national 
Pursuit,  the  skill  of  the  Peruvians  is  well  seen. 

A  rapid  elevation  from  the  sea-level  to  the  heights  of  the 
mountains  gave  them,  in  a  small  compass,  every  variety  of 
climate,  and  they  availed  themselves  of  it.  They  terraced 
the  mountainsides,  filling  the  terraces  with  rich  earth.  They 
excavated  pits  in  the  sand,  surrounded  them  with  adobe  walls, 
and  filled  them  with  manured  soil.  On  the  low  level  they  cul- 
tivated bananas  and  cassava;  on  the  terraces  above,  maize  and 
quinoa;  still  higher,  tobacco;  and  above  that,  the  potato. 
From  a  comparatively  limited  surface  they  raised  great  crops 
by  judiciously  using  manures,  employing  for  that  purpose  fish, 
and  especially  guano.  Their  example  has  led  to  the  use  of 
the  latter  substance  for  a  like  purpose  in  our  own  times  in 
Europe.  The  whole  civilised  world  has  followed  them  in  the 
cultivation  of  the  potato. 

We  have  dwelt  at  some  length  on  the  domestic  history  of 
Mexico  and  Peru  because  it  is  intimately  connected  with  one 
of  the  philosophical  principles  which  it  is  the  object  of  this 
book  to  teach;  viz.,  that  human  progress  takes  place  under  an 
unvarying  law  and  therefore  in  a  definite  way.  The  trivial 
incidents  mentioned  in  the  preceding  paragraphs  may  perhaps 
have  seemed  insignificant  and  wearisome,  but  it  is  their  very 
commonness,  their  very  familiarity,  that  gives  them,  when 
rightly  considered,  a  surprising  interest.  There  is  nothing  in 
these  minute  details  but  what  we  find  to  be  perfectly  natural 
from  the  European  point  of  view.  They  might  be,  for  that 
matter,  instead  of  reminiscences  of  the  spontaneous  evolution 
of  a  people  shut  out  from  the  rest  of  the  world  by  impassable 
oceans,  a  relation  of  the  progress  of  some  European  or  Asiatic 
nation.  The  man  of  America  proceeded  forward  in  his  course 
of  civilisation  as  did  the  man  of  the  Old  World,  devising  the 
same  institutions,  guided  by  the  same  intentions,  constrained 
by  the  same  desires.  From  the  great  features  of  his  social 


Mexico  and  Peru  387 

system  down  to  the  little  details  of  his  domestic  life,  there  is  a 
sameness  with  what  was  done  in  Asia,  Africa,  Europe.  But 
similar  results  imply  a  similar  cause.  What,  then,  is  there 
possessed  in  common  by  the  Chinese,  the  Hindoo,  the  Egypt- 
ian, the  European,  the  American  ?  Simply  nothing  but  the 
sameness  of  the  endowments  which  constitute  human  nature 
— God  working  through  man  to  produce  His  will  and  pleas- 
ure. The  same  instincts,  intuitions,  incentives,  and  common 
sense  guide  men  all  over  the  world.  Man  in  his  social  pro- 
gress, upon  the  free-will  of  which  he  so  prides  himself,  in  his 
individual  capacity  gives  way,  or  is  modified  by  the  action 
and  influence  of  others  and  the  domination  of  general  laws, 
so  that  God's  exact  purpose  in  creating  man  shall  be  attained; 
notwithstanding  that  individual  man  (short-sighted  as  he  is) 
has  partial  control  over  his  destiny. 

The  free  agency  of  the  individual  is  so  restrained  by  in- 
stincts, intuitions,  and  other  influences,  that  none  can  hope- 
lessly stray  from  the  path  assigned  to  him.  To  each  individual 
bee  the  career  is  open;  he  may  taste  of  this  flower  and  avoid 
that;  he  may  be  industrious  in  the  garden,  or  idle  away  his 
time  in  the  air;  but  the  history  of  one  hive  is  the  history  of 
another  hive;  there  will  be  a  predestined  organisation — the 
queen,  the  drones,  the  workers.  In  the  midst  of  a  thousand 
unforeseen,  uncalculated,  variable  acts,  a  definite  result,  with 
unerring  certainty,  emerges;  the  combs  are  built  in  a  pre- 
ordained way,  and  filled  with  honey  at  last.  At  the  time 
of  the  conquest  the  moral  man  in  Peru  was  fully  equal  to  the 
Europeans,  and  we  will  add,  the  intellectual  man  also.  Nor  in 
Spain,  nor  even  in  all  Europe,  was  there  to  be  found  a  political 
system  carried  out  into  the  practical  details  of  actual  life, 
and  expressed  in  great  public  works  as  its  outward,  visible, 
and  enduring  sign,  which  could  at  all  compare  with  that  of 
Peru. 

Manco  Capac  is  generally  spoken  of  by  historians  as  having 
introduced  the  worship  of  the  sun;  this  mistake  seems  to  have 
arisen  from  the  title  of  the  GREAT  LIGHT,  by  which  many 
branches  of  the  Indian  people  characterised  the  Creator,  and 
this  is  perfectly  scriptural,  as  we  are  taught  to  consider  the 


388          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

sun  as  a  symbol  or  representation  of  that  great  moral  Light 
and  Life  which  is  emphatically  called  the  "  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness." The  sun  is  illustrative  of  the  Divine  power  and  God- 
head, as  well  as  are  all  other  works  of  the  Creator;  the  term 
Great  Light,  and  its  symbol  the  sun,  seem  to  have  been  consid- 
ered by  historians  a  synonym;  and  therefore  they  have  errone- 
ously charged  the  Incas  with  the  worship  of  the  sun,  instead 
of  the  great  moral  Light  by  whom  as  men,  and  as  a  commun- 
ity, they  were  greatly  enlightened. 

The  following  were  among  the  regulations  for  governing  the 
people:  There  were  judges  in  small  controversies.  Idleness 
was  punished  with  stripes.  Each  colony  had  a  supreme  judge. 
Theft,  murder,  and  adultery  were  punished  chiefly  by  death, 
in  order  not  to  leave  a  bad  man  more  incensed  or  necessitated 
to  commit  new  crimes. 

These  laws  had  so  good  an  effect  that  sometimes  a  year 
passed  without  one  execution.  ..."  After  a  long  and  re- 
vered reign,  at  the  approach  of  the  last  period  of  life,  Mango 
Capac  called  together  all  his  children  and  grandchildren;  he 
told  them  he  was  going  to  repose  himself  with  his  Father. 
To  his  eldest  son  he  left  his  empire,  and  advised  and  charged 
them  all  to  continue  in  the  paths  of  reason  and  virtue,  which 
he  had  taught  them,  until  they  followed  him  on  the  same 
journey,  and  that  this  was  the  only  course  by  which  they 
could  prove  themselves  the  children  of  the  GREAT  LIGHT,  and 
as  such  be  honoured  and  respected.  He  commanded  his  suc- 
cessor, whose  name  was  Sinchi  Roca,  to  govern  his  people 
with  justice,  mercy,  piety,  clemency,  and  care  of  the  poor; 
and  that  when  he  should  go  to  rest,  etc.,  he  should  give  the  same 
instructions  and  exhortations  to  his  successor." 

Inca  Roca  erected  schools  for  the  education  of  the  princes; 
it  was  a  saying  of  this  Inca  that  "  If  there  be  anything  in  this 
lower  world  which  we  might  adore,  it  is  a  wise  and  virtuous 
man,  who  surpasses  all  other  objects  in  dignity;  but  how  can 
we  pay  Divine  honours  to  one  who  is  born  in  tears,  who  is  in 
a  daily  state  of  change,  who  arrived  but  as  yesterday,  and  who 
is  not  exempt  from  death — perhaps  to-morrow." 

Pacha  Cutec  (the  reformer)  made  many  new  laws  and  regul- 


Mexico  and  Peru  389 

ations;  he  was  severely  just,  and  was  esteemed  a  wise  monarch. 
The  following  were  some  of  his  apophthegms: 

"  He  who  envies  the  wise  and  good  is  like  the  wasp  which 
sucks  poison  from  the  finest  flowers." 

"  Drunkenness  and  anger  admit  of  reformation,  but  folly  is 
incurable." 

"  He  who  kills  another  unlawfully  condemns  himself  to 
death." 

"  A  noble  and  generous  heart  is  known  by  the  patience  with 
which  it  supports  adversity." 

"  How  ridiculous  is  he  who  is  not  able  to  count  by  quipos, 
and  yet  pretends  to  number  the  stars." 

The  Inca  Yupanqui  was,  by  universal  consent,  surnamed 
the  charitable.  His  son  Tupac  Yupanqui  preserved  the  con- 
quests of  his  virtuous  predecessors;  he  "  governed  his  empire 
with  wisdom  and  mildness."  The  emperor  at  length,  feeling 
the  approach  of  death,  gave  orders  that  his  children  "  should 
come  into  his  presence  to  hear  his  last  injunctions."  He 
recommended  them  by  living  in  peace  and  justice  to  prove 
themselves  the  true  children  of  the  Supreme  Light. 

Among  other  maxims  of  this  Inca,  he  said:  "Avarice  and 
ambition  like  other  passions  have  no  bounds  of  moderation: 
the  first  unfits  a  man  for  the  government  of  his  own  family,  or 
for  any  public  employment;  the  second  renders  the  under- 
standing not  susceptible  of  the  counsels  of  the  wise  and 
virtuous." 

"  In  the  kingdom  of  Acolhuan,  the  judicial  power  was 
divided  amongst  seven  principal  cities.  The  judges  remained 
in  their  tribunals  from  sunrise  until  sunset.  Their  meals  were 
brought  to  them,  that  they  might  not  be  taken  off  from  their 
employment  by  the  concerns  of  their  families,  nor  have  any 
excuse  for  being  corrupted.  They  were  assigned  possessions, 
and  also  labourers  to  cultivate  their  fields.  Those  possessions 
belonged  to  their  office,  and  could  not  be  inherited  by  their 
sons.  Every  Mexican  month  (twenty  days)  an  assembly  of 
judges  was  held  before  the  king,  in  order  to  determine  all 
cases  then  undecided.  If  very  intricate  and  perplexing,  they 
were,  if  not  then  decided,  reserved  for  the  grand  solemn 


39°         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

general  assembly,  which  was  held  every  eighty  days,  and 
was  called  the  conference  of  the  eighty;  at  which  all  cases 
were  finally  disposed  of,  and  punishment  pronounced  on  the 
guilty." 

He  who  at  market  altered  the  measures  established  by  law, 
was  guilty  of  felony,  and  was  severely  punished. 

A  murderer  forfeited  his  own  life  for  his  crime,  even  al- 
though the  person  murdered  was  a  slave. 

"  In  the  legislature  of  Acolhuan,  if  a  nobleman  was  intox- 
icated to  the  losing  of  his  senses,  he  was  thrown  into  a  river 
or  lake;  if  a  plebeian,  for  the  first  offence  he  lost  his  liberty, 
for  the  second  his  life.  And  when  the  legislator  was  asked 
why  the  law  was  more  severe  upon  nobles  than  others,  he 
answered  that  the  crime  of  drunkenness  was  less  pardonable 
in  them,  as  they  were  bound  in  duty  to  set  a  good  example." 

Hardwick  says:  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  some  of 
these  advances  towards  civilisation  in  Mexico  should  be  dated 
from  a  very  high  antiquity  especially  in  Yucatan;  that  Mexi- 
cans had  borrowed  largely  from  the  Mayan  builders,  who  al- 
ready, in  the  dawn  of  history,  had  erected  towns  and  palaces 
and  pyramid  temples,  rivalling  those  of  Egypt  in  area  and 
magnificence;  their  creed,  their  laws,  their  ritual,  and  admin- 
istrative principles  had  all  assumed  a  very  definite  and  dis- 
tinctive character. 

The  wild  man  of  America  expresses  a  belief  in  some  Great 
Spirit  (Mr.  Schoolcraft  says  this  doctrine  is  at  the  base  of 
their  religion  ;  Mr.  Prescott  says  "  that  the  rude  tribes  in- 
habiting the  vast  American  continent  had  attained  to  the  sub- 
blime  conception  of  one  Great  Spirit,  the  Creator  of  the 
universe  "),  manifesting  itself,  not  only  as  the  root  and  basis 
of  all  being,  but  in  the  light  of  a  beneficent  Creator. 

The  Mexican  name  for  God  is  Teo-tl.  The  Mexicans  beheld 
in  Him  the  being  "  by  whom  we  live,"  "  omnipresent,  that 
knoweth  all  thoughts  and  giveth  all  gifts,"  "  without  whom 
man  is  as  nothing,"  "  invisible,  incorporeal,  one  God  of  per- 
fect perfection  and  purity,"  "  under  whose  wings  we  find 
repose  and  a  sure  defence."  This  Being  also  had  been 
worshipped  by  some  elevated  spirits,  without  image,  sacrifice, 


The  Talmud  391 

or  temple.  He  was  called  the  "  Cause  of  causes,"  and  the 
"  Father  of  all  things." 

In  the  address  of  the  Mexican  high-priest,  the  language 
runs  as  follows:  "We  entreat  that  those  who  die  in  war  may 
be  graciously  received  by  Thee,  our  Father." 

The  Mexicans  conceive  the  proper  home  of  the  Divine 
Being  to  be  in  the  heavens;  He  is  declared  to  be  impalpable 
as  "night  and  air." 

THE  TALMUD 

Among  the  ancient  literature  of  the  Hebrews  was  the  Tal- 
mud, containing  the  laws  and  compilations  of  expositions  of 
duties  imposed  upon  the  people  by  Scripture,  by  traditions, 
by  authority  of  their  doctors,  or  by  custom.  The  period  of 
time  over  which  the  composition  of  the  Talmud  ranges  is 
about  one  thousand  years,  and  its  origin  is  coeval  with  the 
return  from  the  Babylonish  captivity. 

"  Six  hundred  and  thirteen  injunctions  "  (says  the  Talmud) 
"  was  Moses  instructed  to  give  the  people."  David  reduced 
them  all  to  eleven  in  the  fifteenth  Psalm  :  "  Lord  who  shall 
abide  in  thy  tabernacle  ?  Who  shall  dwell  in  thy  holy  hill  ? 
He  that  walketh  uprightly,  and  worketh  righteousness,  and 
speaketh  the  truth  in  his  heart.  He  that  backbiteth  not  with 
his  tongue,  nor  doeth  evil  to  his  neighbour,  nor  taketh  up  a 
reproach  against  his  neighbour.  In  whose  eyes  a  vile  person 
is  contemned;  but  he  honoureth  them  that  fear  the  Lord.  He 
that  sweareth  to  his  own  hurt,  and  changeth  not.  He  that 
putteth  not  out  his  money  to  usury,  nor  taketh  a  reward 
against  the  innocent.  He  that  doeth  these  things  shall  never 
be  moved." 

The  prophet  Isaiah  reduced  them  to  six  (xxxiii.,  15):  "  He 
that  walketh  righteously  and  speaketh  uprightly,  he  that 
despiseth  the  gain  of  oppressions,  that  shaketh  his  hands  from 
holding  of  bribes,  that  stoppeth  his  ears  from  the  hearing  of 
blood,  and  shutteth  his  eyes  from  seeing  evil;  he  shall  dwell 
on  high;  his  place  of  defence  shall  be  the  munitions  of  rocks; 
bread  shall  be  given  him;  his  waters  shall  be  sure." 


392         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

The  prophet  Micah  reduced  them  to  three  (vi.,  8):  "What 
doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee  but  to  do  justly,  love  mercy,  and 
walk  humbly  with  thy  God  ?  " 

Isaiah  once  more  reduced  them  to  two  (Ivi.,  i):  "Keep  ye 
judgment  and  do  justice." 

Amos  reduced  them  all  to  one  (v.,  4.):  "  Seek  me  and  ye 
shall  live." 

But  lest  it  might  be  supposed  from  this  that  God  could  be 
found  in  the  fulfilment  of  His  whole  law  only,  Habakkuk 
said  (ii.,  4.):  "  The  just  shall  live  by  faith." 

As  God  is  pure,  so  the  soul  is  pure.  This  purity  is  specially 
dwelt  upon  in  contradistinction  to  the  theory  of  hereditary 
sin,  which  is  denied. 

There  is  no  everlasting  damnation  according  to  the 
Talmud.  There  is  only  a  temporary  punishment  even  for  the 
worst  sinners.  No  human  being  is  excluded  from  the  world 
to  come.  The  punishment  of  the  wicked  is  not  specified,  as 
indeed  all  the  descriptions  of  the  next  world  are  left  vague, 
yet  with  regard  to  Paradise,  the  idea  of  something  inconceiv- 
ably glorious  is  conveyed  at  every  step. 

The  "  philosophy  of  religion  "  will  be  best  comprehended 
by  some  of  those  "small  coins,"  the  popular  and  pithy 
sayings,  gnomes,  proverbs, — and  the  rest, — which,  even  better 
than  street  songs,  characterise  a  time.  We  have  thought  it 
preferable  to  give  them  at  random  as  we  found  them,  instead 
of  building  up  from  them  a  system  of  "  Ethics  "  or  "  Duties 
of  the  Heart."  We  have  naturally  preferred  the  better  and 
more  characteristic  ones  that  came  in  our  way. 

"  Be  thou  the  cursed,  not  he  who  curses.  Be  of  them  that 
are  persecuted,  not  of  them  that  persecute.  Look  at  Script- 
ure: there  is  not  a  single  bird  more  persecuted  than  the  dove; 
yet  God  has  chosen  her  to  be  offered  up  on  His  altar.  The 
bull  is  hunted  by  the  lion,  the  sheep  by  the  wolf,  the  goat  by 
the  tiger.  And  God  said,  '  Bring  me  a  sacrifice,  not  from 
them  that  persecute,  but  from  them  that  are  persecuted.' 
'  Has  God  pleasure  in  the  meat  and  blood  of  sacrifices  ?'  asks 
the  prophet.  No;  He  has  not  so  much  ordained  as  permitted 
them.  It  is  for  yourselves,  He  says,  not  for  Me,  that  you  offer. 


The  Talmud  393 

Even  when  the  gates  of  prayer  are  shut  in  heaven,  those  of 
tears  are  open.  When  the  righteous  dies  it  is  the  earth  that 
loses.  The  aim  and  end  of  all  wisdom  is  good  works.  The 
dying  benediction  of  a  sage  to  his  disciples  was:  'I  pray  for 
you  that  the  fear  of  heaven  may  be  as  strong  upon  you  as  the 
fear  of  man.  You  avoid  sin  before  the  face  of  the  latter: 
avoid  it  before  the  face  of  the  All-seeing.'  *  If  your  God 
hates  idolatry,  why  does  He  not  destroy  it?'  a  heathen 
asked.  And  they  answered  him:  'Behold,  they  worship  the 
sun,  the  moon,  the  stars;  would  you  have  Him  destroy  this 
beautiful  world  for  the  sake  of  the  foolish ? '  'If  your  God 
is  a  "  friend  of  the  poor,"  '  asked  another,  '  why  does  He  not 
support  them  ? '  *  Their  case,'  a  sage  answered,  '  is  left  in  our 
hands,  that  we  may  thereby  acquire  merits.'  '  But  what  a 
merit  it  is! '  the  other  replied;  '  suppose  I  am  angry  with  one  of 
my  slaves,  and  forbid  him  food  and  drink,  and  some  one  goes 
and  gives  it  him  furtively,  shall  I  be  much  pleased  ?'  '  Not  so,' 
the  other  replied.  '  Suppose  you  are  wroth  with  your  only  son 
and  imprison  him  without  food,  and  some  good  man  has  pity 
on  the  child,  and  saves  him  from  the  pangs  of  hunger,  would 
you  be  so  very  angry  with  the  man  ?  And  we,  if  we  are 
called  servants  of  God,  are  also  called  ..His  children.  He  who 
has  more  learning  than  good  works  is  like  a  tree  with  many 
branches  but  few  roots,  which  the  first  wind  throws  on  its 
face;  whilst  he  whose  works  are  greater  than  his  knowledge  is 
like  a  tree  with  many  roots  and  fewer  branches,  but  which  all 
the  winds  of  heaven  cannot  uproot.'  " 

Love  your  wife  like  yourself,  honour  her  more  than  your- 
self. Whosoever  lives  unmarried,  lives  without  joy,  without 
comfort,  without  blessing.  Descend  a  step  in  choosing  a  wife. 
If  thy  wife  is  small,  bend  down  to  her  and  whisper  into  her  ear. 
He  who  forsakes  the  love  of  his  youth,  God's  altar  weeps  for 
him.  He  who  sees  his  wife  die  before  him,  has,  as  it  were, 
been  present  at  the  destruction  of  the  sanctuary  itself — around 
him  the  world  grows  dark.  It  is  woman  alone  through  whom 
God's  blessings  are  vouchsafed  to  a  house.  She  teaches  the 
children,  speeds  the  husband  to  the  place  of  worship  and 
instruction,  welcomes  him  when  he  returns,  keeps  the  house 


394         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

godly  and  pure,  and  God's  blessings  rest  upon  all  these  things. 
The  birds  in  the  air  even  despise  the  miser.  He  who  gives 
charity  in  secret  is  greater  than  Moses  himself.  Honour 
the  sons  of  the  poor,  it  is  they  who  bring  science  into  splen- 
dour. Let  the  honour  of  thy  neighbour  be  to  thee  like 
thine  own.  Hospitality  is  an  important  part  of  Divine  wor- 
ship. There  are  three  crowns  :  of  the  law,  the  priesthood, 
the  kingship  ;  but  the  crown  of  a  good  name  is  greater  than 
them  all. 

How  can  you  escape  sin?  Think  of  three  things:  whence 
thou  comest,  whither  thou  goest,  and  to  whom  thou  wilt  have 
to  account  for  all  thy  deeds;  even  to  the  King  of  kings,  the 
All-Holy,  praised  be  He.  Four  shall  not  enter  Paradise:  the 
scoffer,  the  liar,  the  hypocrite,  and  the  slanderer.  There  is  a 
great  difference  between  him  who  is  ashamed  before  his  own 
self,  and  him  who  is  only  ashamed  before  others.  It  is  a  good 
sign  in  man  to  be  capable  of  being  ashamed.  One  contrition 
in  man's  heart  is  better  than  many  flagellations.  He  who 
walks  daily  over  his  estates  finds  a  little  coin  each  time.  He 
who  humiliates  himself  will  be  lifted  up;  he  who  raises  himself 
up  will  be  humiliated.  Whosoever  runs  after  greatness,  great- 
ness runs  away  from  him;  he  who  runs  from  greatness,  greatness 
follows  him.  He  who  curbs  his  wrath,  his  sins  will  be  for- 
given. Whosoever  does  not  persecute  them  that  persecute 
him,  whosoever  takes  an  offence  in  silence,  he  who  does  good 
because  of  love,  he  who  is  cheerful  under  his  sufferings — they 
are  the  friends  of  God,  and  of  them  the  Scripture  says,  "And 
they  shall  shine  forth  as  does  the  sun  at  noonday."  Pride  is  like 
idolatry.  Commit  a  sin  twice  and  you  will  think  it  perfectly 
allowable.  When  the  end  of  a  man  is  come,  everybody  lords 
it  over  him.  The  day  is  short,  and  the  work  is  great;  but  the 
labourers  are  idle,  though  the  reward  be  great  and  the  master 
of  the  work  presses.  It  is  not  incumbent  upon  thee  to  com- 
plete the  work;  but  thou  must  not  therefore  cease  from  it.  If 
thou  hast  worked  much,  great  shall  be  thy  reward;  for  the 
Master  who  employed  thee  is  faithful  in  his  payment.  But 
know  that  the  true  reward  is  not  of  this  world.  "  Have  a 
care  in  legal  decisions,  send  forth  many  disciples,  and  make  a 


The  Talmud  395 

fence  around  the  law."  "  On  three  things  stands  the  world: 
on  law,  on  worship,  and  on  charity." 

"  Of  all  things,  the  most  hated  were  idleness  and  asceticism; 
piety  and  learning  themselves  only  received  their  proper 
estimation  when  joined  to  healthy  bodily  work.  It  is  well 
to  add  a  trade  to  your  studies  ;  you  will  then  be  free  from 
sin." 

Before  leaving  this  period  of  Mishnic  development,  we  have 
yet  to  speak  of  one  or  two  things.  This  period  is  the  one  in 
which  Christianity  arose;  and  it  may  be  as  well  to  touch  here 
upon  the  relation  between  Christianity  and  the  Talmud.  The 
New  Testament,  written,  as  Lightfoot  has  it,  "  among  Jews, 
by  Jews,  for  Jews,"  cannot  but  speak  the  language  of  the 
time,  both  as  to  form  and,  broadly  speaking,  as  to  contents. 
There  are  many  more  vital  points  of  contact  between  the  New 
Testament  and  the  Talmud  than  divines  seem  fully  to  realise, 
for  such  terms  as  "Redemption,"  "Baptism,"  "Grace," 
"  Faith,"  "  Salvation,"  "  Regeneration,"  "  Son  of  man,"  "  Son 
of  God,"  "Kingdom  of  Heaven,"  were  not,  as  we  are  apt  to 
think,  invented  by  Christianity,  but  were  household  words  of 
Talmudical  Judaism.  No  less  loud  and  bitter  in  the  Talmud 
are  the  protests  against  "  lip-serving,"  against  "  making  the 
law  a  burden  to  the  people,"  against  "  laws  that  hang  on 
hairs,"  against  "Priests  and  Pharisees."  The  fundamental 
mysteries  of  the  new  faith  are  matters  totally  apart;  but  the 
Ethics  in  both  are,  in  their  broad  outlines,  identical.  That 
grand  dictum,  "  Do  unto  others  as  thou  wouldst  be  done  by," 
is  quoted  by  Hillel,  the  President,  at  whose  death  Jesus  was 
ten  years  of  age,  not  as  anything  new,  but  as  an  old  and  well- 
known  dictum  "that  comprised  the  whole  Law."  "Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself,"  is  a  precept  of  the  Old 
Testament,  as  Christ  himself  taught  his  disciples.  The  "Law," 
as  we  have  seen  and  shall  further  see,  was  developed,  to  a 
marvellously  and  perhaps  oppressively  minute  pitch.  "  The 
faith  of  the  heart "  was  a  thing  that  stood  much  higher  with 
the  Pharisees  than  this  outward  law.  It  was  a  thing,  they 
said,  not  to  be  commanded  by  any  ordinance;  yet  was  greater 
than  all. 


396         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

About  30  years  B.C.  Hillel  became  President.  Of  his  meek- 
ness, his  piety,  his  benevolence,  the  Talmudical  records  are 
full.  A  few  of  his  sayings  will  characterise  him  better  than 
any  sketch  of  ours  could  do.  "  Be  a  disciple  of  Aaron,  a 
friend  of  peace,  a  promoter  of  peace,  a  friend  of  all  men, 
and  draw  them  near  unto  the  Law."  4<  Do  not  believe  in  thy- 
self till  the  day  of  thy  death." 

"  Do  not  judge  thy  neighbour  until  thou  hast  stood  in  his 
place."  "Whosoever  does  not  increase  in  knowledge  de- 
creases." One  day  a  heathen  went  to  Shammai,  the  head  of 
the  rival  academy,  and  asked  him  mockingly  to  convert  him 
to  the  law  while  he  stood  on  one  leg.  The  irate  master  turned 
him  from  the  door.  He  then  went  to  Hillel,  who  received 
him  kindly  and  gave  him  that  reply,  since  so  widely  propa- 
gated: "Do  not  unto  another  what  thou  wouldst  not  have 
another  do  unto  thee.  This  is  the  whole  Law,  the  rest  is  mere 
commentary." 

EGYPTIAN  HISTORY 

It  is  ascertained  to  a  certainty  by  the  reading  of  hiero- 
glyphics on  the  monuments  of  Egypt  that  as  long  as  five 
thousand  years  ago  Egypt  was  an  old  country,  and  the  wild 
barbarian  state,  "  when  wild  in  woods  the  noble  savage  ran," 
appears  as  remote  from  that  period  as  from  the  present. 

Art,  luxury,  even  the  vices  of  wealth  and  power  are  ap- 
parent, but  of  the  so-called  state  of  nature  nothing  is  to  be 
seen.  The  earliest  king  of  all  Egypt  must  have  ascended  the 
throne  about  B.C.  3643,  and  the  paintings  in  the  tombs  at  Beni- 
Hassan  must  date  at  least  B.C.  2800;  giving  them  at  this  time 
an  actual  antiquity  very  little  short  of  five  thousand  years:  for 
they  bear  the  names  of  that  far-famed  king  of  the  twelfth 
dynasty  whose  extraordinary  stature,  extensive  conquests,  and 
long  reign  are  recorded  by  Manethon  and  Herodotus.  His 
name  is  variously  written  by  the  different  transcribers:  in 
some  it  is  Sesostris,  in  others  Sesonchosis,  and  on  the  monu- 
ments, Sesortesen. 

It  was  at  one  of  the  most  brilliant  periods  of  the  Egyptian 
monarchy,  therefore,  that  we  have  the  elaborate  representa- 


Egyptian  History  397 

tion  of  social  life  which  these  tombs  afford:  and  this  brilliant 
period  was  apparently  anterior  by  many  centuries  to  the  birth 
even  of  Abraham. 

At  this  epoch,  five  thousand  years  ago,  the  Egyptians  were 
skilled  in  the  art  of  glass-blowing,  the  smelting  and  working 
of  metals,  weaving,  pottery,  brick  making,  boat  building,  rope 
making,  preparing  leather,  making  wine  from  the  grape,  writ- 
ing, painting,  sculpture;  they  had  saws  for  the  carpenter, 
sickles  for  the  reaper,  scythes  for  the  cutter  of  stubble,  chisels 
for  the  sculptor  ;  their  buildings  were  supported  by  columns; 
they  had  gardens  elaborately  laid  out,  boats  covered  like  a 
gondola  to  protect  the  passenger  from  the  rays  of  the  sun;  the 
rich  enjoyed  field  sports  in  their  preserves,  which  were  stocked 
with  wild  animals  by  the  labour  of  slaves;  ladies  had  their 
social  meetings,  where  they  were  entertained  by  flute  players 
and  admired  or  criticised  each  other's  dress;  guests  came  to 
feasts  in  chariots  drawn  by  caparisoned  horses,  and  were  enter- 
tained by  tumblers  and  dancing  girls,  dressed  in  transparent 
robes,  for  the  manufacture  of  which  Egypt  was  always  famous. 

From  the  above  enumeration  of  what  we  are  wont  to  term 
the  arts  of  civilisation,  we  might  fancy  ourselves  introduced 
to  the  dominions  of  a  Hindoo  prince  of  our  own  times.  No! 
It  is  the  picture  of  an  age  of  the  world  when  primeval  barbar- 
ism has  been  supposed  to  have  prevailed. 

Trace  back  the  Egyptians  from  the  age  of  the  great  Se- 
sortesen  toward  that  of  the  founder  of  the  sole  monarchy,  and 
what  do  we  find  ?  Pyramids,  obelisks,  gigantic  statues,  temples ; 
all  the  evidences  of  wealth  and  power.  Writing  materials  are 
depicted  on  the  monuments  of  the  fourth  dynasty.  The  age 
of  barbarism,  like  the  rainbow,  recedes  at  the  attempt  to 
follow  it. 

The  priests  here,  as  in  all  other  countries,  were  a  favoured 
class  segregated  from  the  rest  by  their  learning  and  their 
riches,  no  less  than  by  their  privilege  of  caste;  despising  the 
ignorance  of  the  lower  orders,  they  devised  ceremonies  to 
amuse,  rather  than  to  enlighten  them;  and  thus  perpetuated 
and  even  increased  this  ignorance.  All  that  we  are  told  of  the 
mysteries,  the  secret  doctrines,  etc.,  which  the  Greeks  affirm  to 


One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

have  been  introduced  from  Egypt,  confirms  this;  the  religion 
of  the  heart,  which  ought  to  have  expressed  itself  in  the  sim- 
ple prayer  or  thanksgiving  which  formed  the  first  worship  of 
man,  was  exchanged  for  a  set  of  ceremonies  so  complicated 
that  the  complete  knowledge  of  them  became  an  art  requiring 
long  instruction;  the  truth  was  hidden  under  a  veil  which  com- 
mon eyes  were  unable  to  see  through;  and  the  sacerdotal 
caste  arrogated  consequence  to  itself  for  knowing  what  it  had 
itself  originally  concealed. 

There  is  a  tendency  in  mankind  to  keep  that  a  secret  which 
is  profitable;  and  it  is  seldom  that  any  priesthood,  existing  as 
a  corporate  body,  has  entirely  escaped  the  dangerous  influ- 
ence of  the  spirit  of  caste.  NOTE. — It  is  to  this  probably  that 
most  of  the  corruptions  of  Christ's  teaching  have  been  owing. 
Man  is  discouraged  by  the  priests  from  believing  that  the  ap- 
proach to  his  Maker  is  easy,  or  His  laws  simple  as  nature 
itself;  they  are  taught  to  despise  the  plain  short  order,  "  Wash 
and  be  clean."  Hence  the  gorgeousness  of  ceremonial  wor- 
ship. 

In  the  paintings  of  Beni-Hassan,  though  the  act  of  prayer 
and  the  offering  of  incense  are  often  represented,  no  figure  of 
the  deity  to  whom  this  service  was  dedicated  is  given.  At  a 
later  period  both  paintings  and  sculpture  abound  with  repre- 
sentations of  strangely  misformed  deities,  which  are  receiving 
the  homage  of  their  worshippers.  Yet  in  the  midst  of  all  this 
the  books  of  the  priesthood  (for  such  we  must  imagine  the 
ceremonial  ritual  of  which  so  many  fragments  are  still  exist- 
ing) tell  of  a  judgment  after  death,  according  to  the  actions 
performed  during  life;  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  of 
its  reunion  with  the  body. 

We  have  no  positive  knowledge  of  the  state  of  man  in  other 
countries  at  the  early  period  to  which  the  monuments  of  Egypt 
carry  us  back;  but  India,  China,  and  Persia  claim  for  them- 
selves a  civilisation  as  ancient,  and  there  is  no  reason  why 
a  state  of  things  which  we  find  certainly  proved  in  one  coun- 
try should  not  have  extended  to  others.  Indeed,  if  we  may 
be  allowed  to  reason  from  analogy,  it  is  much  more  probable 
that  other  nations  should  have  reached  to  something  near  the 


Egyptian  History  399 

same  point,  than  that  Egypt  should  have  stood  alone.  China 
has  been  so  much  a  sealed  book,  hitherto,  that  we  can  say 
little  as  to  its  antiquities,  or  even  as  to  its  present  habits;  but 
there  is  much  in  modern  Hindostan  which  reminds  us  of 
the  state  of  manners  depicted  in  the  tombs  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians. 

Within  a  short  time  the  opinions  here  advanced  have  re- 
ceived a  further  corroboration  from  the  disinterment  of  sculp- 
tures from  the  palaces  or  temples  of  the  ancient  Assyrian 
empire,  which  mark  a  state  of  civilisation  very  similar  to  that 
of  Egypt.  We  find  there  a  monarch  sumptuously  apparelled 
and  attended;  horses  harnessed  to  chariots;  swords  elabor- 
ately ornamented  on  the  hilt;  dresses  embroidered  and  fringed; 
and  a  style  of  sculpture  greatly  resembling  that  of  ancient 
Egypt. 

"  The  centre  of  the  consciousness  which  the  Egyptians  pos- 
sessed of  God's  agency  in  our  history  is  the  Osiris  worship,  the 
oldest  and  most  sacred  portion  of  their  religion.  Osiris  is  the 
Lord,  the  God  and  father  of  each  individual  soul,  the  judge 
of  men,  who  passes  sentence  strictly  according  to  the  right 
and  wrong,  rewarding  goodness  and  punishing  crime.  The 
judgment  held  upon  the  souls  of  the  dead  is  nothing  else  than 
the  reflection  of  that  general  theory  of  the  universe  according 
to  which  the  good  prevails  on  earth  in  the  midst  of  conflict, 
while  evil  annihilates  itself,  promoting  the  good  against  its  own 
will.  It  involves  the  recognition  that  there  is  a  solution  of  the 
enigma  of  existence  which  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  term  of  a 
single  life  on  earth,  and  yet  which  we  are  compelled  to  seek 
after  in  order  to  explain  this  life.  All  guilt  must  be  expiated 
—  but  the  final  issue,  although  reached  only  after  the  lapse  of 
unnumbered  ages,  will  be  the  triumph  of  the  good,  the  general 
reconciliation,  and  a  life  in  God  will  be  the  eternal  heritage 
of  the  soul.  This  thought  pervades  all  the  records  we  possess 
respecting  the  trial  held  upon  the  deceased  in  Egypt.  This 
special  mystery  of  the  Egyptian  religion  implies  a  faith  in  the 
two  great  fundamental  laws  of  all  religious  consciousness —  the 
unity  of  the  human  reason  in  the  conscience,  and  the  inde- 
structibility of  personal  identity.  All  mankind  are  judged  by 


400        One    Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Osiris  according  to  one  standard."     The  foregoing  are  among 
the  religious  views  held  by  the  Egyptians,  3000  years  B.C. 

STOICISM 

Dugald  Stewart  says  :  "  The  Stoics  were  a  large  sect,  and 
of  its  members  so  many  have  been  celebrated  that  a  separate 
work  would  be  needed  to  chronicle  them  all.  From  Zeno, 
the  founder,  down  to  Brutus  and  Marcus  Antoninus,  the  sect 
embraces  many  Greek  and  Roman  worthies,  and  not  a  few 
solemn  pretenders.  Some  of  these  we  would  willingly  intro- 
duce ;  but  we  are  forced  to  confine  ourselves  to  one  type  ; 
and  the  one  we  select  is  Zeno." 

He  was  born  at  Citium,  a  small  city  in  the  island  of  Cyprus, 
of  Phoenician  origin  but  inhabited  by  Greeks.  The  date  of 
his  birth  is  uncertain,  probably  about  350  years  B.C.  His 
father  was  a  merchant,  in  which  trade  he  himself  engaged  until 
his  father,  after  a  voyage  to  Athens,  brought  home  some  works 
of  Socratic  philosophers  ;  these  Zeno  studied  with  eagerness 
and  rapture,  and  determined  his  vocation. 

When  about  thirty,  he  undertook  a  voyage  both  of  interest 
and  pleasure  to  Athens,  the  great  mart  both  for  trade  and 
philosophy.  Shipwrecked  on  the  coast,  he  lost  the  whole  of 
his  valuable  cargo  of  Phoenician  purple,  and,  thus  reduced  to 
poverty,  he  willingly  embraced  the  doctrine  of  the  Cynics, 
whose  ostentatious  display  of  poverty  had  captivated  many 
minds. 

The  gross  manners  of  the  Cynics,  so  far  removed  from  true 
simplicity,  and  their  speculative  incapacity  soon  caused  him  to 
seek  a  master  elsewhere. 

As  a  man,  Zeno  appears  deserving  of  the  highest  respect. 
So  honoured  and  respected  was  he  by  the  Athenians  that  they 
entrusted  to  him  the  keys  of  the  citadel ;  and  when  he  died 
they  erected  to  his  memory  a  statue  of  brass. 

Zeno  the  Stoic  had  a  Roman  spirit ;  and  this  is  the  reason 
why  so  many  noble  Romans  became  his  disciples  :  he  had 
deciphered  the  wants  of  their  spiritual  nature. 

Alarmed  at  the  scepticism  which  seemed  inevitably  follow- 


Stoicism  401 

ing  speculations  of  a  metaphysical  kind,  Zeno,  like  Epicurus, 
fixed  his  thoughts  principally  upon  morals.  His  philosophy 
boasted  of  being  eminently  practical,  and  connected  with  the 
daily  practices  of  life.  But,  for  this  purpose,  the  philosopher 
must  not  regard  pleasure  so  much  as  virtue,  nor  does  virtue 
consist  in  a  life  of  contemplation,  but  in  a  life  of  activity. 

Zeno  taught  as  follows  :  Not  to  regard  pleasure  so  much  as 
virtue,  nor  does  virtue  consist  in  a  life  of  contemplation  and 
speculation,  but  in  a  life  of  activity  ;  for  what  is  virtue  ?  Vir- 
tue is  manhood.  And  what  are  the  attributes  of  man  ?  Are 
they  not  obviously  the  attributes  of  an  active  as  well  as  of  a 
speculative  being  ?  and  can  that  be  virtue  which  excludes  or 
neglects  man's  activity  ?  Man  was  not  made  for  speculation 
only  ;  wisdom  is  not  his  only  pursuit.  Man  was  not  made  for 
enjoyment  only  ;  he  was  made  also  to  do  somewhat  and  to  be 
somewhat. 

If  the  universe  be  subject  to  a  general  law,  every  part  of 
that  universe  must  also  be  duly  subordinate  to  it.  The  con- 
sequence is  clear  :  there  is  but  one  formula  for  morals,  and 
that  is,  "  Live  harmoniously  with  nature,"  both  individual  and 
universal  nature. 

The  Stoics  placed  the  supreme  good  in  rectitude  of  conduct 
without  any  regard  to  the  event.  They  taught  that  nature 
pointed  out  to  us  certain  objects  of  choice  and  of  rejection, 
and  amongst  these  some  to  be  chosen  and  some  to  be  avoided 
more  than  others,  and  that  virtue  consisted  in  choosing  and 
rejecting  objects  according  to  their  intrinsic  value. 

"  The  Stoics  in  the  character  of  their  virtuous  man  included 
rational  desire,  aversion,  and  exultation;  included  love  and 
parental  affection,  friendship,  and  a  general  benevolence  to 
all  mankind." 

Nor  did  they  exclude  wealth  from  among  the  objects  of 
choice.  The  Stoic  Hecato,  in  his  Treatise  of  Offices,  quoted 
by  Cicero,  tells  us,  "  That  a  wise  man,  while  he  abstains  from 
doing  anything  contrary  to  the  customs,  laws,  and  institutions 
of  his  country,  ought  to  attend  to  his  own  fortune.  For  we 
do  not  desire  to  be  rich  for  ourselves  only,  but  for  our  child- 
ren, relations,  and  friends,  and  especially  for  the  common- 


402          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

wealth,  inasmuch  as  the  riches  of  individuals  are  the  wealth  of 
a  State." 

By  the  Stoics,  virtue  was  supposed  to  consist  in  the  affec- 
tionate performance  of  every  good  office  towards  their  fellow- 
creatures,  and  in  full  resignation  to  Providence  for  everything 
independent  of  their  own  choice. 

"  The  Stoic  enlisted  himself  as  a  willing  instrument  in  the 
hands  of  God  for  the  good  of  his  fellow-creatures.  For  him- 
self, the  cares  and  attentions  which  this  object  required  were 
his  pleasures,  and  the  continued  exertion  of  a  beneficent  affec- 
tion, his  welfare  and  his  prosperity." 

Upon  the  whole,  it  cannot  be  disputed  that  the  leading  doc- 
trines of  Stoicism  are  agreeable  to  the  purest  principles  of 
morality  and  religion.  Indeed,  they  all  terminate  in  one 
maxim  :  That  we  should  not  make  the  attainment  of  things 
external  an  ultimate  object,  but  place  the  business  of  life  in 
doing  our  duty,  and  leave  the  care  of  our  happiness  to  Him 
who  made  us. 

It  was  the  precepts  of  this  school  which  rendered  the  sup- 
preme  power  in  the  hands  of  Marcus  Aurelius  a  blessing  to 
the  human  race,  and  which  secured  the  private  happiness  and 
elevated  the  minds  of  Helvidius  and  Thrasea  under  a  tyranny 
by  which  their  country  was  oppressed. 

CLASSICAL  ANTIQUITY 

In  ancient  Rome  the  political  institutions,  and  therefore, 
civil  liberty,  were  the  organs  of  religious  consciousness. 

Now,  if  we  take  both  these  series  of  development  as  a  whole, 
we  shall  readily  convince  ourselves  that  in  some  particular 
branches  history  shows  nothing  elsewhere  equal  in  splendour  to 
the  phenomena  presented  by  the  religious  consciousness  of 
classical  antiquity.  This  holds  good  more  especially  of  its 
manifestations  in  public  life.  In  this  field,  freedom  forms  a 
constant  unit.  And  where  else  do  we  find  so  high  a  level  at- 
tained by  the  community  at  large,  combined  with  that  public 
spirit  and  readiness  to  make  sacrifices  for  the  common  wealth 
of  a  beloved  and  free  fatherland  which  ever  betokens  a  high 


Cicero  403 

grade  of  culture,  as  among  Greeks  and  Romans  ?  Where  so 
organic  an  unfolding,  elaboration,  and  permanent  fruitage  of 
art  and  poetry  ?  Where  so  finished  a  form  of  historical  and 
philosophical  composition  ? 

And  the  social  no  less  than  the  public  life  of  this  ancient 
world  is  much  more  thoroughly  interpenetrated  with  the 
sense  of  divine  sanction  than  is  that  of  our  modern  world. 

The  comparison  of  the  parallel  phenomena  presented  by 
Aryan  Christendom  and  classical  antiquity  must  leave  a 
depressing  impression  on  the  impartial  observer. 

The  Romans  had  no  hereditary  sacred  code,  relating  to 
spiritual  and  moral  things,  similar  to  those  of  the  Hebrews, 
or  even  such  as  the  Greeks  possessed  in  that  early  period  we 
have  in  view.  Nor,  again,  had  the  Romans  any  prophets, 
either  in  the  same  sense  as  the  Hebrews,  or  such  as  the 
Greeks  were  familiar  with. 

The  Romans  were  not  mere  warriors  and  conquerors. 
They  had  their  wise  law-givers,  who  made  efficient  regula- 
tions, and  adhered  to  them,  from  Servius  Tullius  onwards; 
courageous  statesmen,  and  upright  judges. 

CICERO 

Cicero,  who  lived  B.  c.  106,  says  that  Law,  properly 
understood,  is  no  other  than  right  reason,  agreeing  with 
nature,  spread  abroad  among  men,  ever  consistent  with  itself, 
eternal,  whose  office  is  to  summon  to  duty  by  its  commands, 
to  deter  from  vice  by  its  prohibitions,  —  which,  however,  to 
the  good  never  commands  or  forbids  in  vain,  never  influences 
the  wicked,  either  by  commanding  or  forbidding.  In  con- 
tradiction to  this  law,  nothing  can  be  laid  down,  nor  does  it 
admit  of  partial  or  entire  repeal.  Nor  can  we  be  released 
from  this  law  either  by  vote  of  the  Senate,  or  decree  of  the 
people.  Nor  does  it  require  any  commentator  or  interpreter 
besides  itself.  Nor  will  there  be  one  law  at  Athens,  and 
another  at  Rome,  one  now,  and  another  hereafter:  but  one 
eternal,  immutable  law  will  both  embrace  all  nations  and  at 
all  times.  And  there  will  be  one  common  Master,  as  it  were, 


404         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

and  Ruler  of  all,  namely,  God,  the  great  Originator,  Ex- 
positor, Enactor  of  this  law;  which  law,  whoever  will  not 
obey,  will  be  flying  from  himself,  and  having  treated  with 
contempt  his  nature,  will,  in  that  very  fact,  pay  the  greatest 
penalty,  even  if  he  shall  have  escaped  other  punishments,  as 
they  are  commonly  considered. 

All  men  acknowledge  that  which  we  are  led  by  nature  to 
suppose,  namely,  that  there  are  gods. 

Surely  the  mighty  power  of  the  Infinite  Being  is  most 
worthy  of  our  great  and  earnest  contemplation. 

Ignorance  is  inconsistent  with  the  nature  of  the  gods,  and 
imbecility  with  their  majesty. 

Is  he  worthy  to  be  called  man,  who  attributes  to  chance, 
not  to  an  intelligent  Cause,  the  constant  motions  of  the 
heavens,  the  regular  courses  of  the  stars,  the  agreeable  pro- 
portion and  connection  of  all  things,  conducted  with  so  much 
reason  that  our  intellect  itself  is  unable  to  estimate  it  rightly. 
When  we  see  machines  move  artificially,  as  a  sphere,  a  clock, 
or  the  like,  do  we  doubt  whether  they  are  the  production  of 
reason  ?  And  when  we  behold  the  heavens  moving  with  a 
prodigious  celerity,  and  causing  an  annual  succession  of  the 
different  seasons  of  the  year,  which  vivify  and  preserve  all 
things,  can  we  doubt  that  the  world  is  directed  by  a  reason 
most  excellent  and  Divine  ? 

Among  men  there  is  no  nation  so  savage  and  ferocious  as 
not  to  admit  the  necessity  of  believing  in  a  God.  From 
whence  we  conclude  that  every  man  must  recognise  a  Deity. 

The  law  of  virtue  is  the  same  in  God  and  man. 

What  nation  is  there  which  has  not  a  regard  for  kindness, 
benignity,  and  gratitude?  What  nation  is  there  in  which 
arrogance,  cruelty,  and  unthankfulness  are  not  reprobated 
and  detested  ? 

There  is  no  expiation  for  the  crimes  and  impieties  of  men. 
The  guilty,  therefore,  must  pay  the  penalty,  and  bear  the 
punishment;  not  so  much  those  punishments  inflicted  by 
courts  of  justice,  which  were  not  always  in  being,  do  not 
exist  at  present  in  many  places,  and  even  where  established 
are  frequently  biassed  and  partial, — but  those  of  conscience; 


Pindar  405 

while  the  furies  pursue  them,  not  with  burning  torches  as  the 
poets  feign,  but  with  remorse  of  conscience,  and  the  tortures 
arising  from  guilt. 

PINDAR 

Pindar,  the  Theban,  a  Greek  Poet,  born  about  B.C.  520, 
had  extraordinary  honours  paid  to  him  during  his  life,  and 
after  his  decease.  His  odes  and  religious  hymns  were  chanted 
in  the  temples  of  Greece  before  the  most  crowded  assemblies, 
and  on  the  most  solemn  occasions.  The  priestess  of  Apollo 
at  Delphi  declared  that  it  was  the  will  of  that  divinity  that 
Pindar  should  receive  half  of  the  first  fruits  offered  at  his 
shrine.  The  Athenians  erected  a  statue  of  brass  in  honour 
of  him. 

Pindar  speaks  of  the  divine  load-stars  of  this  earthly  life, 
virtue,  piety,  and  reason,  which  ponder  on  the  seriousness  of 
life,  and  pious  reverence  for  moderation.  In  no  case  does  he 
refer  man  to  omens  and  dreams  and  auguries. 

The  Hellenes  possessed  no  sacred  historical  records,  and 
therefore  escaped  the  dangers  of  deducing  intellectual  dog- 
mas of  belief  from  historical  traditions  or  symbolical  legends 
and  fables. 

Pindar  proclaimed  that  in  human  destinies  a  divine  law 
rules,  and  this  is  the  same  law  which  the  wise  and  pious  man 
discovers  in  his  own  bosom. 

There  exists  an  Order  of  the  World:  it  is  a  Moral  Order. 
It  subsists  not  only  for  the  brief  earthly  existence  of  the  soul, 
for  it  is  of  a  divine  nature;  but  already  here  below  it  regul- 
ates human  destinies  with  a  divine  authority. 

Again,  he  declares  that  human  things  have  their  origin 
and  subsistence  by  virtue  of  the  divine  element  which  resides 
in  them. 

The  self-seeking  principle  in  individuals  or  states. 

Pindar  preached  this  doctrine,  not  after  the  fashion  of  an 
Orphic  theologian:  he  set  it  before  all  men's  eyes  in  the 
events  and  experiences  of  actual  life.  If  any  one  expects  to 
escape  the  notice  of  the  Deity  in  doing  aught,  he  errs. 

As  many  as  have  steadfastness,  to  keep  their  soul  altogether 


406          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

from  unjust  actions,  accomplish  their  way  on  the  path  of 
Zeus. 

Hateful  is  deceitful  speech,  meditating  guile,  ill  report  that 
maketh  mischief.  May  I  never  have  this  character,  Father 
Zeus,  but  may  I  hold  to  the  guileless  paths  of  life. 

As  to  what  shall  befall  us,  no  sure  presage  attends  men, 
whereby  they  may  foreknow  the  decrees  of  Providence. 

Hope  binds  the  frame  of  man  with  strong  enchantment. 

The  bitterest  end  awaits  the  pleasure  that  is  contrary  to 
right. 

PLATO 

Plato  first  established  himself  at  Athens  as  a  lecturer  about 
386  B.C. 

Plato  says  that,  in  order  to  be  happy,  a  man  must  be  at 
once  wise,  brave,  temperate,  just. 

He  does  not,  indeed,  lay  his  main  stress  on  the  retribution 
and  punishments  which  follow  injustice,  because  he  repre- 
sents injustice  as  being  in  itself  a  state  of  misery,  to  the  un- 
just agent:  nor  upon  the  rewards  attached  to  justice,  because 
he  represents  justice  itself  as  a  state  of  intrinsic  happiness  to 
the  just  agent. 

The  just  man  will  be  well-esteemed  and  well-treated  by 
men;  he  will  also  be  favoured  and  protected  by  the  gods, 
both  in  this  life  and  after  this  life.  The  unjust  man,  on  the 
contrary,  will  be  ill-esteemed  and  ill-treated  by  men;  he  will 
be  disapproved  and  punished  by  the  gods,  both  while  he 
lives,  and  after  his  death.  Perhaps  for  a  time  the  just  man 
may  seem  to  be  hardly  dealt  with  and  miserable — the  unjust 
man  to  be  prosperous  and  popular  —  but,  in  the  end,  all  this 
will  be  reversed. 

Man  is  happy  or  miserable,  in  and  through  himself,  or 
essentially;  whether  he  be  known  to  gods  and  men  or  not  — 
whatever  may  be  the  sentiment  entertained  of  him  by  others. 

Plato  declares  that  it  is  impracticable  and  impious  to  at- 
tempt to  appease  the  displeasure,  or  to  conciliate  the  favour 
of  the  gods  by  means  of  prayer  and  sacrifice. 

He   accounts    it   a  greater  crime  to  believe  in   indulgent 


Epicurus  407 

and   persuadable   gods,  than  not  to  believe  in  any  gods  at 
all. 

Every  one  loves,  desires,  or  aspires  to  happiness:  this  is  the 
fundamental  or  primordial  law  of  human  nature,  beyond 
which  we  cannot  push  inquiry.  Good,  or  good  things,  are 
nothing  else  but  the  means  to  happiness:  accordingly  every 
man  loving  happiness,  loves  good  also,  and  desires  not  only 
full  acquisition,  but  perpetual  possession  of  good. 

EPICURUS 

Epicurus,  a  Greek  Philosopher,  280  B.C.,  in  his  letter  to 
Mencecus  gives  his  Code  of  Morals,  and  mode  of  life,  at  some 
length,  which  are  as  follows:  "  No  one,"  he  says, "  ought  to 
think  himself  too  young  or  too  old  for  philosophic  contempla- 
tion; since  it  is  the  great  business  of  man  to  consider  what  is 
requisite  to  the  living  well:  happily  as  regards  himself,  and 
worthily  as  regards  his  relations  to  society.  And  in  the  first 
place  as  a  needful  constituent  of  this  knowledge,  we  must 
take  care  that,  believing  God  to  be  an  immortal  and  perfectly 
happy  Being  we  attribute  nothing  to  Him  that  is  inconsist- 
ent with  these  attributes."  Seneca  reproached  Epicurus  with 
reverencing  God  only  as  a  parent,  to  be  honoured  and  wor- 
shipped for  His  excellence,  without  thinking  of  any  gain  to  be 
obtained  by  so  doing. 

"  The  wise  man,"  continues  Epicurus,  "  will  not  consider 
the  loss  of  life  an  evil,  but  as  food  is  chosen  for  its  quality, 
rather  than  its  quantity,  so  he  will  endeavour  to  make  his  life 
pleasant  rather  than  long.  It  is  needful  to  satisfy  our  physi- 
cal wants  in  a  certain  degree,  both  for  the  sake  of  living  in 
comfort,  and  in  order  to  keep  the  body  tranquil,  so  as  to  leave 
the  mind  free  from  disturbance;  for  our  endeavour  should  be 
to  avoid  suffering  and  perturbation;  since  pleasure  is  the  great 
object  of  life.  But  it  is  not  every  kind  of  pleasure  that  will  be 
sought  by  a  wise  man;  for  luxurious  feasts  are  not  needful  to 
him  who  by  temperance  and  exercise  has  made  his  bread  and 
water  sweet  to  his  taste;  therefore  when  I  speak  of  pleasure  as 
ihesummum  bonum,  I  do  not  mean  licentious  pleasures;  for  he 
only  enjoys  a  truly  happy  life  who  examines  his  desires  by  the 


One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

light  of  sober  reason  and  determines  which  ought  to  be  qual- 
ified, which  repressed.  In  short,  no  man  can  live  happily  who 
does  not  live  wisely  and  justly,  and  no  man  can  live  wisely  and 
justly  without  being  happy,  for  virtue  and  happiness  cannot 
be  separated.  Nay,  were  it  possible,  it  would  be  better  to 
live  wisely  and  to  be  unhappy,  than  to  be  irrational  and  for- 
tunate. One  who  acts  on  these  principles  lives  among  men 
as  if  he  were  already  a  god;  he  has  nothing  about  him  that  re- 
sembles the  brute  animal,  but  though  a  man,  he  lives  among 
the  immortals." 

SOCRATES 

Socrates,  who  taught  430  years  B.C.,  remarks  that  honour- 
able things  are  good  things,  and  that  every  one  without  ex- 
ception desires  good.  On  this  point  all  men  are  alike;  the 
distinctive  features  of  virtue  must  then  consist  in  the  power 
of  acquiring  good  things,  such  as  health,  wealth,  money, 
power,  dignities,  etc.  But  the  acquisition  of  these  things  is 
not  virtuous,  unless  it  be  made  consistently  with  justice  and 
moderation. 

Socrates  recommends  virtue  on  the  ground  of  its  remuner- 
ative consequences  to  the  agent,  in  the  shape  of  wealth  and 
other  good  things.  He  and  Xenophon  agree  in  the  same 
doctrine,  presenting  virtue  as  laborious  and  troublesome  in 
itself,  but  as  being  fully  requited  by  its  remunerative  conse- 
quences in  the  form  of  esteem  and  honour,  to  the  attainment 
of  which  it  is  indispensable. 

"  When  I  have  learnt,"  says  Socrates,  "  which  are  my  worst 
and  which  are  my  best  points,  I  shall  evidently  be  in  a  condition 
to  cultivate  and  pursue  the  latter,  and  resolutely  to  avoid  the 
former. 

"  My  mission  from  the  gods,"  says  Socrates,  "  is  to  dispel  the 
false  persuasion  of  knowledge,  to  cross-examine  men  into  a 
painful  conviction  of  their  own  ignorance,  and  to  create  in 
them  a  lively  impulse  towards  knowledge  and  virtue. 

"  Justice,  which  is  good  both  in  itself,  and  by  reason  of  its 
consequences,  I  rank  among  the  noblest  qualities. 

"  The  just  man  should  act  with  a  view  to  good. 


Socrates  409 

"  The  just  man  is  happy,  and  the  unjust  miserable." 

Socrates  maintains  that  justice  is  good, per  se,  ensuring  the 
happiness  of  the  agent  by  its  direct  and  intrinsic  effects  on  the 
mind,  whatever  its  ulterior  consequences  may  be.  He  main- 
tains indeed  that  these  ulterior  consequences  are  also  good: 
but  that  they  do  not  constitute  the  paramount  benefit;  or  the 
main  recommendation  of  justice;  that  the  good  of  justice, 
per  se,  is  much  greater. 

The  fundamental  principle  (Socrates  affirms)  to  which  cities 
or  communities  owe  their  origin  is  existence  of  wants  and 
necessities  in  all  men.  No  single  man  is  sufficient  for  himself: 
every  one  is  in  want  of  many  things,  and  is  therefore  com- 
pelled to  seek  communion  or  partnership  with  neighbours  and 
auxiliaries.  Reciprocal  dealings  begin:  each  gives  to  others, 
and  receives  from  others,  under  the  persuasion  that  it  is  better 
for  him  to  do  so. 

In  regard  to  religion,  the  raising  of  temples,  arrangement  of 
sacrifices,  etc.,  we  know  nothing  about  these  matters.  We 
must  examine  them,  and  see  where  we  can  find  justice  and 
injustice. 

Justice  is  in  the  mind  what  health  is  in  the  body,  when  the 
parts  are  so  arranged  as  to  control,  and  be  controlled  pursu- 
ant to  the  dictates  of  nature.  Injustice  is  in  the  mind  what 
disease  is  in  the  body,  when  the  parts  are  so  arranged  as  to 
control  and  be  controlled  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  nature: 
virtue  is  thus  health,  beauty,  good  condition  of  the  mind;  vice 
is  the  disease,  ugliness,  weakness  of  the  mind. 

It  is  profitable  to  a  man  to  be  just,  and  to  do  justice, /*/-  se, 
even  though  he  be  not  known  as  just  either  by  gods  or  men, 
and  may  thus  be  debarred  from  the  consequences  which  would 
ensue  if  he  were  known.  It  is  unprofitable  to  him  to  be  un- 
just, even  though  he  can  continue  to  escape  detection  and 
punishment.  As  health  is  the  greatest  good,  and  sickness  the 
greatest  evil  of  the  body,  so  justice  is  the  greatest  good,  and 
injustice  the  greatest  evil  of  the  mind. 

Socrates  says  that  the  gods  are  good,  and  therefore  cannot 
be  the  cause  of  anything  except  good.  The  gods  must  be  an- 
nounced as  causes  of  all  the  good  which  exists.  No  poetical 


One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

tale  can  be  tolerated  which  represents  the  gods  as  assuming 
the  forms  of  different  persons,  and  going  about  to  deceive 
men  into  false  beliefs. 

A  perfectly  reasonable  man  will  account  death  no  great  evil. 

If  a  man  passes  his  life  pleasurably  until  its  close,  it  may 
be  said  that  he  has  lived  well;  at  least,  provided  he  lives  tak- 
ing pleasure  in  fine  or  honourable  things. 

To  do  wrong  is  worse  than  to  suffer  wrong,  as  well  as  more 
disgraceful. 

If  a  man  be  punished  for  wrong-doing,  he  suffers  what  is 
just,  and  the  punisher  does  what  is  just. 

We  ought  to  do —  continues  Socrates  —  what  is  pleasing  for 
the  sake  of  what  is  good:  not  vice  versa.  But  everything 
becomes  good  by  possessing  its  appropriate  virtue  or  regula- 
tion. The  regulation  appropriate  to  the  mind  is,  to  be  temp- 
erate. The  temperate  man  will  do  what  is  just  —  his  duty 
towards  men:  and  what  is  holy — his  duty  towards  the  gods. 
He  will  be  just  and  holy.  He  will  therefore  also  be  cour- 
ageous; for  he  will  seek  only  such  pleasures  as  duty  permits, 
and  he  will  endure  all  such  pains  as  duty  requires.  Being 
thus  temperate,  just,  brave,  holy,  he  will  be  a  perfectly  good 
man,  doing  well  and  honourably  throughout.  The  man  who 
does  well,  will  be  happy:  the  man  who  does  ill,  and  is  wicked, 
will  be  miserable. 

Everything  has  its  own  fixed  and  determinate  essence, 
not  relative  to  us  nor  varying  according  to  our  will  and 
pleasure,  but  existing,  per  se,  as  nature  has  arranged.  All 
agencies,  either  by  one  thing  upon  other  things,  or  by  other 
things  upon  it,  are  in  like  manner  determined  by  nature, 
independent  of  our  will  and  choice. 

XENOPHANES 

Xenophanes  maintained  that  there  was  but  one  God,  identi- 
cal with,  or  a  personification  of,  the  whole  Uranus.  "  The 
whole  Kosmos,  or  the  whole  God,  sees,  hears,  and  thinks." 
The  divine  nature,  he  said,  did  not  admit  of  the  conception 
of  separate  persons,  one  governing  the  other,  or  of  want  and 
imperfection  in  any  way. 


Grecian  History  411 

HERAKLEITUS 

Herakleitus  says:  "  Every  man,  individually  considered,  was 
irrational:  reason  belonged  only  to  the  universal  or  to  the 
whole,  with  which  the  mind  of  each  living  man  was  in  con- 
junction, renewing  itself  by  perpetual  absorption,  inspiration 
or  inhalation,  transition,  and  impressions  through  the  senses." 

PROTAGORAS 

Protagoras  asserts  that  no  good  citizen  can  be  without  a 
sense  of  justice  and  of  shame. 

GRECIAN  HISTORY 

Orpheus,  a  Thracian,  visited  Egypt  and  brought  from  thence 
the  doctrines  with  which  he  afterwards  corrupted  the  simple 
religion  of  Greece.  The  doctrine  he  taught  was  that  of  One, 
Self-existent  God,  the  Maker  of  all  things,  who  is  present  to 
us  in  all  His  works;  but  this  great  truth  was  disguised  under 
a  mass  of  fables. 

Orpheus  taught  that  the  One  Supreme  Deity  was  the  Source 
of  all,  and  that  tutelary  gods  of  air,  fire,  earth,  etc.,  were  in 
fact  only  emanations  of  His  power  made  manifest  to  men  by 
visible  and  tangible  objects.  But  when  the  Most  High  was 
no  longer  to  be  approached  by  the  vulgar,  the  especial  mani- 
festations were  soon  individualised,  and  a  polytheism,  which 
probably  the  first  introducers  of  this  mysterious  doctrine 
never  contemplated,  was  built  upon  it. 

The  mysterious  doctrine  of  Orpheus,  which  gave  tangi- 
bility and  distinctness  to  the  notions  of  the  Deity,  soon  struck 
the  imagination  of  the  poet.  Homer  and  Hesiod  took  it  up 
and  finished  the  individualising  process  by  giving  names  and 
forms  to  the  various  sub-deities  of  the  different  powers  of 
nature.  Yet  these  were  for  a  long  time  only  the  poetical 
version  of  the  old  belief:  the  one  Supreme  God  still  held  the 
reins,  and  Destiny  was  looked  up  to  as  the  ruler  of  these 
sub-gods  no  less  than  of  men. 


One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

SACRED  BOOK  OF  THE  MEXICANS 

We  gather  the  following  from  Miiller:  A  book  called  Popol 
Vuh,  and  pretending  to  be  the  original  text  of  the  sacred 
writings  of  the  Indians  of  Central  America.  The  Popol  Vuh 
is  a  literary  composition  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word.  It 
contains  the  mythology  and  history  of  the  civilised  races  of 
Central  America,  and  comes  before  us  with  credentials  that 
will  bear  the  test  of  critical  inquiry. 

Popol  Vuh  means  the  book  of  the  people,  and  refers  to  the 
traditional  literature  in  which  all  that  is  known  about  the  early 
history  of  the  nation,  their  religion  and  ceremonies,  has  been 
handed  down  from  age  to  age.  We  find  material  for  studying 
their  character,  for  analysing  their  religion  and  mythology,  for 
comparing  their  principles  of  morality,  their  views  of  virtue, 
beauty,  and  heroism,  with  those  of  other  races  of  mankind. 
This  is  the  charm,  the  real  and  lasting  charm,  of  such  works 
as  that  presented  to  us  for  the  first  time  in  a  trustworthy 
translation  by  the  Abbe  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg.  There  are 
some  coincidences  between  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
Quiche*  MS.  which  are  certainly  startling.  Yet  even  if  a 
Christian  influence  has  to  be  admitted,  much  remains  in  these 
American  traditions  which  is  so  different  from  anything  else 
in  the  national  literatures  of  other  countries,  that  we  may 
safely  treat  it  as  the  genuine  growth  of  the  intellectual  soil  of 
America. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  "  POPOL  VUH  " 

The  Quiche*  MS.  begins  with  an  account  of  the  creation. 
The  Quich6s  believed  that  there  was  a  time  when  all  that  ex- 
ists in  heaven  and  earth  was  made.  All  was  then  in  suspense, 
all  was  calm  and  silent;  all  was  immovable,  all  peaceful,  and 
the  vast  space  of  the  heavens  was  empty.  There  was  no  man, 
no  animal,  no  shore,  no  trees;  heaven  alone  existed.  The 
face  of  the  earth  was  not  to  be  seen;  there  was  only  the  still 
expanse  of  the  sea  and  the  heaven  above.  Divine  beings 
were  on  the  waters  like  a  growing  light.  Their  voice  was 
heard  as  they  meditated  and  consulted,  and  when  the  dawn 


Sacred  Book  of  the  Mexicans         413 

arose,  man  appeared.  Then  the  waters  were  commanded  to 
retire;  the  earth  was  established,  that  she  might  bear  fruit, 
and  that  the  light  of  day  might  shine  on  heaven  and  earth. 

"  '  For,'  they  said,  '  we  shall  receive  neither  glory  nor  hon- 
our from  all  we  have  created  until  there  is  a  human  being — 
a  being  endowed  with  reason.'  '  Earth'  they  said,  and  in  a 
moment  the  earth  was  formed.  Like  a  vapour  it  rose  into 
being,  mountains  appeared  from  the  waters  like  lobsters,  and 
the  great  mountains  were  made. — Thus  was  the  creation  of 
the  earth,  when  it  was  fashioned  by  those  who  are  the  Heart 
of  heaven,  the  Heart  of  the  earth;  for  thus  were  they  called 
who  first  gave  fertility  to  them,  heaven  and  earth  being  still 
inert  and  suspended  in  the  midst  of  the  waters." 

Then  follows  the  creation  of  the  brute  world,  and  the 
disappointment  of  the  gods  when  they  commanded  the  animals 
to  tell  their  names,  and  to  honour  those  who  had  created  them. 
Then  the  gods  said  to  the  animals: 

"  You  will  be  changed,  because  you  cannot  speak.  We 
have  changed  your  speech.  You  shall  have  your  food  and 
your  dens  in  the  woods  and  crags;  for  our  glory  is  not  perfect, 
and  you  do  not  invoke  us.  There  will  be  beings  still  that  can 
salute  us;  we  shall  make  them  capable  of  obeying.  Do  your 
task;  as  to  your  flesh,  it  will  be  broken  by  the  tooth." 

Then  follows  the  creation  of  man.  His  flesh  was  made  of 
earth  —  terre  glaise. — But  man  was  without  cohesion  or  power, 
inert  and  aqueous;  he  could  not  turn  his  head,  his  sight  was 
dim,  and  though  he  had  the  gift  of  speech,  he  had  no  intellect. 
He  was  soon  consumed  again  in  the  water. 

And  the  gods  consulted  a  second  time  how  to  create  beings 
that  should  adore  them,  and  after  some  magic  ceremonies, 
men  were  made  of  wood,  and  they  multiplied.  But  they  had 
no  heart,  no  intellect,  no  recollection  of  their  Creator;  they 
did  not  lift  up  their  heads  to  their  Maker,  and  they  withered 
away  and  were  swallowed  up  by  the  water. 

Then  follows  a  third  creation,  man  being  made  of  a  tree 
called  "  tzite","  woman  of  the  marrow  of  a  reed  called  "  sibac." 
They,  too,  did  neither  think  or  speak  before  Him  who  had 
made  them,  and  they  were  likewise  swept  away  by  the  waters 


4H         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

and  destroyed.  The  whole  nature — animals,  trees,  and  stones 
— turned  against  men  to  revenge  the  wrongs  they  had  suffered 
at  their  hands,  and  the  only  remnant  of  that  early  race  is  to 
be  found  in  small  monkeys  which  still  live  in  the  forests. 

Three  attempts,  as  we  saw,  had  been  made  and  had  failed. 
We  now  hear  again  that  before  the  beginning  of  dawn,  and 
before  the  sun  and  moon  had  risen,  man  had  been  made, 
and  that  nourishment  was  provided  for  him  which  was  to 
supply  his  blood,  namely,  yellow  and  white  maize.  Four  men 
are  mentioned  as  the  real  ancestors  of  the  human  race,  or 
rather  of  the  race  of  the  Quiche's.  They  were  neither  begot- 
ten by  the  gods,  nor  born  of  woman,  but  their  creation  was 
a  wonder  wrought  by  the  Creator.  They  could  reason  and 
speak,  their  sight  was  unlimited,  and  they  knew  all  things  at 
once.  When  they  had  rendered  thanks  to  their  Creator  for 
their  existence,  the  gods  were  frightened,  and  they  breathed  a 
cloud  over  the  eyes  of  men  that  they  might  see  a  certain 
distance  only,  and  not  be  like  the  gods  themselves.  Then, 
while  the  four  men  were  asleep,  the  gods  gave  them  beautiful 
wives,  and  these  became  the  mothers  of  all  tribes,  great  and 
small.  These  tribes,  both  white  and  black,  lived  and  spread 
in  the  East.  They  did  not  yet  worship  the  gods,  but  only 
turned  their  faces  up  to  heaven,  hardly  knowing  what  they 
were  meant  to  do  here  below.  Their  features  were  sweet,  so 
was  their  language,  and  their  intellect  was  strong. 

A  legend  which  is  current  among  the  Thlinkithians,  who 
are  one  of  the  four  principal  races  inhabiting  Russian  America, 
is  as  follows:  They  believe  in  a  general  flood  or  deluge,  and 
that  men  saved  themselves  in  a  large  floating  building.  When 
the  waters  fell,  the  building  was  wrecked  on  a  rock,  and  by 
its  own  weight  burst  into  two  pieces.  Hence  arose  the  differ- 
ence of  languages.  The  Thlinkithians  with  their  language 
remained  on  one  side;  on  the  other  side  were  all  the  other 
races  of  the  earth. 

Neither  the  Esthonian  nor  the  Thlinkithian  legend,  how- 
ever, offers  any  striking  points  of  coincidence  with  the  Mosaic 
accounts.  The  analogies,  therefore,  as  well  as  the  discrepan- 
cies, between  the  ninth  chapter  of  Genesis  and  the  chapter 


Beliefs  of  the  American  Indians      415 

here   translated  from  the  Quiche*   MS.  require  special  atten- 
tion. 

BELIEFS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  INDIANS 

Miiller  says  that  the  Greenlander  believes  that  when  a  man 
dies  his  soul  travels  to  Tonigarsuk,  the  land  where  reigns 
perpetual  summer,  all  sunshine  and  no  night;  where  there  is 
good  water,  and  birds,  and  fish,  seals,  and  reindeer  without 
end,  that  are  to  be  caught  without  trouble,  or  are  found 
cooking  alive  in  a  huge  kettle.  But  the  journey  to  this  land 
is  difficult;  the  souls  have  to  slide  five  days  or  more  down  a 
precipice,  all  stained  with  the  blood  of  those  who  have  gone 
down  before.  And  it  is  especially  grievous  for  the  poor  souls 
when  the  journey  must  be  made  in  winter  or  in  tempest,  for 
then  a  soul  may  come  to  harm,  or  suffer  the  other  death,  as 
they  call  it. 

The  native  tribes  of  the  lower  end  of  South  America  believe 
in  two  great  powers  of  good  and  evil,  but  likewise  in  a  num- 
ber of  inferior  deities.  These  are  supposed  to  have  been  the 
creators  and  ancestors  of  different  families,  and  hence  when 
an  Indian  dies  his  soul  goes  to  live  with  the  deity  who  pre- 
sides over  his  particular  family.  These  deities  have  each 
their  separate  habitations  in  vast  caverns  under  the  earth, 
and  thither  the  departed  repair  to  enjoy*the  happiness  of  be- 
ing eternally  drunk. 

Messrs.  Lewis  and  Clarke  give  the  following  account  of  the 
belief  in  a  future  state  entertained  by  another  American  tribe, 
the  Mandans: 

"  Their  belief  in  a  future  state  is  connected  with  this  tradi- 
tion of  their  origin:  The  whole  nation  resided  in  one  large 
village  underground  near  a  subterraneous  lake.  A  grape- 
vine extended  its  roots  down  to  their  habitation  and  gave 
them  a  view  of  the  light.  Some  of  the  most  adventurous 
climbed  up  the  vine,  and  were  delighted  with  the  sight  of  the 
earth,  which  they  found  covered  with  buffalo,  and  rich  with 
every  kind  of  fruit.  Returning  with  the  grapes  they  had 
gathered,  their  countrymen  were  so  pleased  with  the  taste  of 
them  that  the  whole  nation  resolved  to  leave  their  dull 


416         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

residence  for  the  charms  of  the  upper  region.  Men,  women, 
and  children  ascended  by  means  of  the  vine,  but  when  about 
half  the  nation  had  reached  the  surface  of  the  earth,  a  corp- 
ulent woman  who  was  clambering  up  the  vine  broke  it  with 
her  weight,  and  closed  upon  herself  and  the  rest  of  the  nation 
the  light  of  the  sun.  Those  who  were  left  on  earth  made  a 
village  below  where  we  saw  the  vine  villages;  and  when  the 
Mandans  die  they  expect  to  return  to  the  original  seats  of 
their  forefathers,  the  good  reaching  the  ancient  village  by 
means  of  the  lake,  which  the  burden  of  the  sins  of  the  wicked 
will  not  enable  them  to  cross." 

Catlin's  account  of  the  Choctaw  belief  in  a  future  state  is 
equally  curious.  They  hold  that  the  spirit  lives  after  death, 
and  that  it  has  a  great  distance  to  travel  towards  the  west; 
that  it  has  to  cross  a  dreadful,  deep,  and  rapid  stream,  over 
which,  from  hill  to  hill,  there  lies  a  long,  slippery  pine  log, 
with  the  bark  peeled  off.  Over  this  the  dead  have  to  pass 
before  they  reach  the  delightful  hunting-grounds.  The  good 
walk  on  safely,  though  six  people  from  the  other  side  throw 
stones  at  them;  but  the  wicked,  trying  to  dodge  the  stones, 
slip  off  the  log  and  fall  thousands  of  feet  into  the  water  which 
is  dashing  over  the  rocks. 

BELIEF  OF  THE  NEW  HOLLANDERS 

The  New  Hollanders,  according  to  Mr.  Oldfield,  believe 
that  all  who  are  good  men  and  have  been  properly  buried 
enter  heaven  after  death.  Heaven,  which  is  the  abode  of  the 
two  good  divinities,  is  represented  as  a  delightful  place,  where 
there  is  abundance  of  game  and  food,  never  any  excess  of 
heat  or  cold,  rain  or  drought,  no  malign  spirits,  no  sickness 
or  death;  but  plenty  of  rioting,  singing,  and  dancing  for  ever- 
more. They  also  believe  in  an  evil  spirit  who  dwells  in  the 
nethermost  regions,  and,  strange  to  say,  they  represent  him 
with  horns  and  a  tail. 

OF  THE  ICELANDERS 

The  following  traditions  in  relation  to  creation  are  con- 
tained in  the  book  Edda,  the  sacred  book  of  the  Icelanders. 


Belief  of  the  Icelanders  4T7 

"  'T  was  the  morning  of  time, 
When  yet  naught  was, 
Nor  sand  nor  sea  were  there, 
Nor  cooling  streams  ; 
Earth  was  not  formed, 
Nor  heaven  above  ; 
A  yawning  gap  there  was, 
And  grass  nowhere." 

In  the  Edda,  man  is  said  to  have  been  created  out  of  an 
ash-tree,  and  God  is  portrayed  as  follows:  "  Who  is  first  and 
eldest  of  all  gods?"  He  is  called  "  Allfadir,"  —  the  Father 
of  All,  the  Great  Father,  in  our  tongue.  He  lives  from  all 
ages,  and  rules  over  His  realm  and  sways  all  things,  great  and 
small.  He  made  heaven  and  earth,  and  the  sky,  and  all  that 
belongs  to  them;  and  He  made  man,  and  gave  him  a  soul  that 
shall  live  and  never  perish,  though  the  body  rot  to  mould,  or 
burn  to  ashes.  .  All  men  that  are  right-minded  shall  live,  and 
be  with  Him  in  a  place  called  "  Vingolf ";  but  wicked  ones 
fare  to  Hell  and  thence  into  Niflhell,  that  is,  beneath  in  the 
ninth  world. 

CHRISTIAN  THEOLOGY  NO  RESTRAINT 

We  have  heretofore  remarked  that  all  motives  to  virtue  have 
their  only  foundation  in,  and  all  good  works  proceed  from,  the 
moral  faculties — that  is,  the  conscience  and  the  instincts 
originally  given  to  man;  and  that  the  evil-doings  of  man  find 
their  only  check  or  restraint  in  this  reflex  of  God  in  man. 
There  is  no  restraint  found  in  the  Christian  theology  or  else- 
where, not  found  in  every  man's  conscience;  while  on  the 
other  hand,  history  shows  us  that  Christianity  has  been  the 
most  powerful  of  all  agents  in  stifling  the  voice  of  conscience 
and  in  bringing  horrors  and  calamities  upon  mankind.  The 
assertion  may  seem  a  startling  one,  but  its  truth  can  scarcely 
be  denied  by  the  reader  who  follows  us  through  the  dismal 
record  of  great  crimes  committed  by  people  supposed  to  be 
specially  chosen  of  God  and  enjoying  His  immediate  super- 
vision, by  others  taking  the  Old  Testament  as  their  guide,  and 


4*8         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

by  others  still  whose  iniquities  and  atrocities  were  perpe- 
trated in  the  name  of  Jesus.  We  propose  to  glance  succes- 
sively at  the  bloody  contentions  of  the  early  Church;  at  the 
crimes  and  corruptions  of  the  Church  during  the  Middle 
Ages;  at  the  Crusades;  at  the  persecutions  of  the  Jews  by  the 
Christians;  at  the  sacrifice  of  human  life  in  the  so-called  holy 
wars  waged  by  Christians  for  theological  opinions  alone;  at 
the  persecution  of  the  Protestants  by  the  Catholics;  at  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  under  a  king  one  of  whose 
titles  was  the  "  Most  Christian  ";  at  the  cruel  course  of  Spain 
in  overrunning  and  despoiling  Mexico  and  Peru. 
Let  us  commence  with  the 

CONTENTIONS  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

From  the  Trinitarian  controversy,  which  began  in  the  reign 
of  Constantine — about  A.D.  323, — we  may  date  the  introduc- 
tion of  rigorous  articles  of  belief,  which  required  the  sub- 
missive assent  of  the  mind  to  every  word  and  letter  of  an 
established  creed,  and  which  raised  the  slightest  heresy  of 
opinions  into  a  more  fatal  offence  against  God  and  a  more 
odious  crime  in  the  estimation  of  man  than  the  worst  moral 
delinquency  or  the  most  flagrant  deviation  from  the  spirit 
of  Christianity. 

Such  was  the  question  which  led  to  all  the  evils  of  human 
strife — hatred,  persecution,  bloodshed. 

The  distribution  of  the  superior  dignities  of  the  Church 
became  an  object  of  fatal  ambition  and  strife.  The  streets  of 
Alexandria  and  of  Constantinople  were  deluged  with  blood  by 
the  partisans  of  rival  bishops. 

In  the  latter,  an  officer  of  high  distinction,  sent  by  the 
Emperor  to  quell  the  tumult,  was  slain  and  his  body  treated 
with  the  utmost  indignity  by  the  infuriated  populace. 

The  triumph  of  the  Catholics  in  Egypt  was  accompanied  by 
every  variety  of  plunder,  murder,  sacrilege,  and  outrage,  and 
Arius  himself  was  probably  poisoned  by  Catholic  hands.  The 
followers  of  St.  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  who  were  chiefly  monks, 
filled  their  city  with  riot  and  bloodshed,  wounded  the  prefect 


Contentions  of  the  Early  Church       419 

Orestes,  dragged  the  pure  and  gifted  Hypatia  into  one  of 
their  churches,  murdered  her,  tore  the  flesh  from  her  bones 
with  sharp  shells,  and,  having  stripped  her  body  naked,  flung 
the  mangled  remains  into  the  flames.  In  Ephesus,  during  the 
contest  between  St.  Cyril  and  the  Nestorians,  the  cathedral 
itself  was  the  theatre  of  a  fierce  and  bloody  conflict.  Con- 
stantinople, on  the  occasion  of  the  deposition  of  St.  Chrysos- 
tom,  was  for  several  days  in  a  condition  of  absolute  anarchy. 
After  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  Jerusalem  and  Alexandria 
were  again  convulsed,  and  the  bishop  of  the  latter  city  was 
murdered  in  his  baptistry.  Athanasius  stands  out  as  the 
prominent  character  of  the  period  in  the  history  of  Christian- 
ity. That  history  is  one  long  controversy,  the  life  of  Athana- 
sius one  unwearied  and  incessant  strife.  It  is  neither  the 
serene  course  of  a  being  elevated  by  his  religion  above  the 
cares  and  tumults  of  ordinary  life,  nor  the  restless  activity  of 
one  perpetually  employed  in  a  conflict  with  the  ignorance, 
vice,  and  misery  of  an  unconverted  people.  Yet  even  now 
(so  completely  has  this  polemic  spirit  become  incorporated 
with  Christianity)  the  memory  of  Athanasius  is  regarded 
by  many  wise  and  good  men  with  reverence  which  in 
Catholic  countries  is  actual  adoration,  in  Protestant  ap- 
proaches towards  it. 

A  council  was  held  at  Tyre,  in  which  Athanasius  was  de- 
posed and  Gregory  appointed  in  his  stead.  Scenes  of  sav- 
age conflict  ensued:  the  churches  were  taken,  as  it  were,  by 
storm;  the  priests  of  the  Athanasian  party  were  treated  with 
the  utmost  indignity;  virgins  scourged;  every  atrocity  per- 
petuated by  unbridled  multitudes,  embittered  by  every  shade 
of  religious  faction.  Athanasius  returned  for  a  time  to  Alexan- 
dria, but  was  again  deposed. 

The  Arians  exacted  ample  vengeance  for  their  long  period 
of  depression:  houses  were  plundered,  monasteries  burned; 
tombs  broken  open  to  search  for  concealed  Athanasians,  or 
for  the  prelate  himself,  who  still  eluded  their  pursuit;  bishops 
were  insulted;  virgins  scourged;  the  soldiery  encouraged  to 
break  up  every  meeting  of  the  Catholics  by  violence,  and  even 
by  inhuman  tortures.  The  Duke  Sebastian,  at  the  head  of 


420         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

three  thousand  troops,  charged  a  meeting  of  the  Athanasian 
Christians.  No  barbarity  was  too  revolting;  they  are  said  to 
have  employed  instruments  of  torture  to  compel  them  to 
Christian  unity  with  the  Arians;  females  were  scourged  with 
the  prickly  branches  of  the  palm  tree. 

Persecution  was  universal — persecution  by  every  means  of 
violence  and  cruelty;  the  only  question  was,  in  whose  hands 
was  the  power  to  persecute.  Bloodshed,  murder,  treach- 
ery, assassination,  even  during  the  public  worship  of  God — 
these  were  the  frightful  means  by  which  each  party  strove  to 
maintain  its  opinions  and  to  defeat  its  adversary.  The  most 
unaggressive  and  unobtrusive  forms  of  paganism  were  perse- 
cuted with  the  same  ferocity. 

To  offer  a  sacrifice  was  to  commit  a  capital  offence — and 
yet  the  offering  of  Jesus  as  a  sacrifice  for  man's  sin  is  claimed 
as  the  foundation  of  Christian  theology.  To  hang  up  a  simple 
chaplet  was  to  incur  the  forfeiture  of  an  estate. 

Contrast  with  this  the  policy  of  the  pagan  Emperor  Julian, 
thus  described  by  his  favourite  orator: 

"He  thought  that  neither  fire  nor  sword  could  change  the 
faith  of  mankind:  the  heart  disowns  the  hand  which  is  com- 
pelled by  terror  to  sacrifice.  Persecutions  only  make  hypo- 
crites who  are  unbelievers  throughout  life,  or  martys  honoured 
after  death."  He  strictly  prohibited  the  putting  to  death 
the  Galileans — his  favourite  appellaton  of  the  Christians — as 
worthy  rather  of  compassion  than  of  hatred.  Julian  revoked 
the  sentence  of  banishment  pronounced  against  Arians,  Apolli- 
narians,  and  Donatists.  He  determined,  it  is  said,  to  expose 
them  to  a  sort  of  public  exhibition  of  intellectual  gladiatorship. 
He  summoned  the  advocates  of  the  several  sects  to  dispute  in 
his  presence,  and  presided  with  mock  solemnity  over  their 
debates.  His  own  voice  was  drowned  in  the  clamour,  till  at 
length,  as  though  to  contrast  them,  to  their  disadvantage,  with 
the  wild  barbarian  warriors  with  whom  he  had  been  engaged: 
"  Hear  me,"  exclaimed  the  Emperor;  "  The  Franks  and  the 
Alemanni  have  heard  me."  "  No  wild  beasts,"  he  said,  "  are 
so  savage  and  intractable  as  Christian  sectaries." 

During  the  reign  of  Anastasius,  two  hundred  Eastern  monks, 


Later  Crimes  of  the  Church          42 1 

headed  by  Severus,  were  permitted  to  land  in  Constantinople; 
they  here  found  an  honourable  reception.  Other  monks  of  the 
opposite  faction  swarmed  from  Palestine.  The  two  black- 
cowled  armies  watched  each  other  for  some  months,  working 
in  secret  on  their  respective  partisans. 

At  last  there  was  a  wild,  fierce  fray;  the  presence  of  the 
Emperor  lost  its  awe,  he  could  not  maintain  the  peace.  The 
Bishop  Macedonius  took  the  lead.  Men,  women,  children, 
poured  out  from  all  quarters;  the  monks,  at  the  head  of  the 
raging  multitude,  echoed  their  religious  war-cries. 

Throughout  Asiatic  Christendom  it  was  the  same  wild  strug- 
gle. Bishops  were  deposed  quietly;  or,  where  resistance  was 
made,  the  two  factions,  fighting  in  the  streets,  in  the  churches; 
cities,  even  the  holiest  places,  ran  with  Christian  blood. — 
Milman's  History  of  Christianity. 

LATER  CRIMES  OF  THE  CHURCH 

In  A.D.  498  the  feuds  of  the  Roman  clergy  broke  out  on 
the  customary  occasion  of  the  election  of  a  new  pope.  Each 
party  elected  their  pope.  The  two  factions  encountered  with 
the  fiercest  hostility;  the  clergy,  the  senate,  and  the  populace 
were  divided;  the  streets  of  the  Christian  city  ran  with  blood. 
The  contest  was  decided^by  Theodoric,  the  Gothic  King  of 
Italy.  But  not  long  after,  the  sanguinary  tumults  between 
the  two  factions  broke  out  with  greater  fury:  priests  were  slain, 
monasteries  fired,  and  even  sacred  virgins  treated  with  the 
utmost  indignity. 

With  the  power  of  the  clergy  increased  both  those  other 
sources  of  influence,  pomp  and  wealth. 

Distinctions  in  station  and  in  authority  naturally  lead  to 
distinctions  in  manners,  and  those  adventitious  circumstances 
of  dress  and  habits  which  designate  different  ranks.  The 
ministering  functionaries  multiplied  with  the  rapidly  increas- 
ing variety  and  pomp. 

At  the  festival  of  a  martyr  the  day  closed  with  an  open  ban- 
quet in  which  all  the  worshippers  were  invited  to  partake.  As 
the  evening  drew  on,  the  solemn  and  religious  thoughts  gave 


422          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

way  to  other  emotions,  the  wine  flowed  freely,  and  the  healths 
of  the  martyrs  were  pledged,  not  unfrequently  to  complete 
inebriety.  Dances  were  admitted,  pantomimic  spectacles  were 
exhibited,  the  festivals  were  prolonged  till  late  in  the  evening, 
or  to  midnight,  so  that  other  criminal  irregularities  profaned, 
if  not  the  sacred  edifice,  its  immediate  neighbourhood. 

A  demoniac  accused  the  Bishop  Fortunatus  of  refusing  him 
the  rights  of  hospitality;  a  poor  peasant  receives  the  possessed 
into  his  house,  and  is  punished  for  this  inferential  disrespect  to 
the  Bishop  by  seeing  his  child  cast  into  the  fire  and  burnt  be- 
fore his  eyes.  A  poor  fellow  with  a  monkey  and  cymbals  is 
struck  dead  for  unintentionally  interrupting  a  Bishop  Boniface 
in  prayer. 

In  A.D.  726,  the  Emperor  Leo  issued  an  edict  commanding 
the  total  destruction  of  all  images  and  the  whitewashing  of 
the  walls  of  the  churches.  The  thronging  multitude  saw  with 
horror  the  officer  mount  the  ladder.  The  women  seized  the 
ladder,  threw  down  the  officer,  and  beat  him  to  death  with 
clubs.  The  Emperor  sent  an  armed  guard  to  suppress  the  tu- 
mult; a  frightful  massacre  took  place.  The  pious  were  pun- 
ished with  mutilations,  scourgings,  exile,  confiscation;  the 
schools  of  learning  were  closed,  a  magnificent  library  burned 
to  the  ground. 

At  the  accession  of  Constantine  Copronymus  two  religious 
parties  divided  the  Empire.  A  battle  took  place  near  Ancira, 
fought  with  all  the  ferocity  of  civil  and  religious  war.  The 
historian  expresses  his  horror  that,  among  Christians,  fathers 
should  thus  be  engaged  in  the  slaughter  of  their  children, 
brothers  of  brothers. 

Charlemagne  was  prodigal  of  grants  of  land  to  churches  and 
monasteries.  But  these  estates  were  not  always  obtained  from 
the  pious  generosity  of  the  king  or  the  nobles.  The  stewards 
of  the  poor  were  the  spoilers  of  the  poor.  They  compelled 
the  poor  freeman  to  sell  his  property,  or  forced  him  to  serve 
in  the  army,  and  that  on  permanent  or  continual  duty,  and  so 
to  leave  his  land  either  without  owner,  with  all  the  chances 
that  he  might  not  return,  or  to  commit  it  to  the  custody  of 
those  who  remained  at  home  in  quiet,  and  seized  every  op- 


Later  Crimes  of  the  Church          423 

portunity  of  entering  into  possession.  No  Naboth's  vineyard 
escaped  their  watchful  avarice. 

The  payment  of  tithe  originated  in  the  following  manner: 
Pepin  had  commanded  the  payment  of  tithe  for  the  celebra- 
tion of  peculiar  litanies  during  a  period  of  famine.  Charle- 
magne made  it  a  law  of  the  Empire:  he  enacted  it  in  its  most 
strict  and  comprehensive  form,  as  investing  the  clergy  in  a 
right  to  the  tenth  of  the  substance  and  of  the  labour  alike 
of  freeman  and  the  serf.  The  collection  of  tithe  was  regulated 
by  compulsory  statutes:  the  clergy  took  note  of  all  who  paid 
or  refused  to  pay;  the  contumacious  were  three  times  sum- 
moned, if  still  obstinate,  excluded  from  the  Church;  if  they 
still  refused  to  pay,  they  were  fined  over  and  above  the  whole 
tithe,  six  solidi;  if  further  contumacious,  the  recusant's  house 
was  shut  up;  if  he  attempted  to  enter  it  he  was  cast  into 
prison.  This  tithe  was  by  no  means  a  spontaneous  votive 
offering  of  the  whole  Christian  people — it  was  a  tax  imposed 
by  imperial  authority,  enforced  by  imperial  power.  It  had 
caused  one,  if  not  more  than  one,  sanguinary  insurrection 
among  the  Saxons.  It  was  submitted  to  in  other  parts  of  the 
Empire,  not  without  strong  reluctance. 

In  A.D.  974,  during  the  pontificate  of  Benedict  VI.,  Boni- 
fazio,  a  Cardinal  Deacon,  seized  the  unsuspecting  Pope  and 
cast  him  into  a  dungeon  where  shortly  after  he  was  strangled. 
Bonifazio  assumed  the  papacy;  but  he  had  miscalculated  the 
strength  of  his  faction — in  one  month  he  was  forced  to  fly 
from  the  city.  Yet  he  fled  not  with  so  much  haste  but  that  he 
carried  off  all  the  treasures,  even  the  sacred  vessels  from  the 
church  of  St.  Peter. 

Suddenly  the  fugitive  Bonifazio  re-appeared  in  Rome,  seized 
the  Pope,  imprisoned  him  in  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo,  of 
which  important  fortress  he  had  become  master,  and  there  put 
him  to  death  by  starvation  or  by  poison.  He  exposed  the 
body  to  the  view  of  the  people,  who  dared  not  murmur;  he 
seated  himself,  as  it  seems,  unresisted,  in  the  papal  chair,  but 
soon  after  died.  The  people  revenged  themselves  for  their 
own  base  acquiescence  in  his  usurpation  by  cowardly  insults  on 
his  dead  body,  by  dragging  it  through  the  streets. 


424         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

For  twelve  years  Benedict  IX.  ruled  in  Rome,  in  the  words 
of  one  of  his  successors,  Victor  III.,  leading  a  life  so  shame- 
ful, so  foul  and  execrable,  that  he  shuddered  to  describe  it. 
He  ruled  like  a  captain  of  banditti  rather  than  a  prelate. 
Adulteries,  homicides,  perpetrated  by  his  own  hand,  passed 
unnoticed,  unrevenged.  He  became  deeply  enamoured  of  his 
cousin.  The  father  refused  his  daughter  unless  the  Pope 
would  surrender  the  papacy. 

He  actually  sold  the  papacy  to  an  arch-Presbyter,  named 
John. 

There  were  at  one  time  three  popes,  by  themselves,  or  by 
their  factions,  engaged  in  deadly  feud.  They  laid  aside,  or 
taught  each  other  to  despise,  their  spiritual  arms;  they  en- 
countered with  the  carnal  weapons  of  ordinary  warfare. — 
Milman's  History  of  Latin  Christianity. 

For  ten  dreary  years, — A.D.  1198, — with  but  short  intervals 
of  truce,  Germany  was  abandoned  to  all  the  horrors  of  civil 
war.  The  repeated  protestations  of  Innocent  that  he  was  not 
the  cause  of  these  fatal  discords,  betray  the  fact  that  he  was 
accused  of  the  guilt;  and  that  he  had  to  wrestle  with  his  own 
conscience  to  acquit  himself  of  the  charge.  It  was  a  war,  not 
of  descisive  battles,  but  of  marauding,  desolation,  havoc, 
plunder,  wasting  of  harvests,  ravaging  open  and  defenceless 
countries;  war  waged  by  prelate  against  prelate,  by  prince 
against  prince;  wild  Bohemians  and  bandit  soldiers  of  every 
race  were  roving  through  every  province.  Throughout  the 
land  there  was  no  law:  the  high  roads  were  impassable  on  ac- 
count of  robbers;  traffic  cut  off,  except  on  the  great  rivers, 
from  Cologne  down  the  Rhine,  from  Ratisbon  down  the 
Danube;  nothing  was  spared,  nothing  sacred,  church  or  cloi- 
ster. Some  monasteries  were  utterly  impoverished,  some 
destroyed.  The  ferocities  of  war  grew  into  brutalities;  the 
clergy  and  sacred  persons  were  the  victims  and  perpetrators. 
The  wretched  nun  who,  it  is  said,  was  stripped  naked,  an- 
ointed with  honey,  rolled  in  feathers,  and  then  set  on  a  horse 
with  her  face  to  the  tail,  and  paraded  through  the  streets,  was 
no  doubt  only  recorded  because  her  fate  was  somewhat  more 
horrible  than  that  of  many  of  her  sisters  The  Abbot  of  St. 


Later  Crimes  of  the  Church  425 

Gall  seized  six  of  the  principal  burghers  of  Arbon,  and  cut  off 
their  feet,  in  revenge  for  one  of  his  servants  who  had  suffered 
the  like  mutilation  for  lopping  wood  in  their  forests. 

In  these  times — A.D.  1200 — began  the  persecutions  of  the 
so-called  heretics;  for  men  were  beginning  to  weary  of  the 
narrow  and  complicated  theology  of  the  Church,  and  to  be- 
lieve only  that  which  they  found  in  their  own  hearts.  Fires  were 
kindled  and  heretics  burned  in  Oxford,  in  Rheims,  in  Arras, 
in  Besancon,  in  Cologne,  in  Treves,  in  Vezelay.  In  this  latter 
stately  monastery  the  Archbishops  of  Lyons  and  Narbonne, 
the  Bishops  of  Nevers  and  Laon,  and  many  abbots  and  great 
theologians  sat  in  solemn  judgment  on  some,  it  should  seem, 
poor  ignorant  men,  called  Publicans.  They  denied  all  but 
God,  they  absolutely  rejected  all  the  sacraments,  infant  bap- 
tism, the  Eucharist,  the  sign  of  the  cross,  holy  water,  the  effi- 
cacy of  tithes  and  oblations,  marriages,  monkhood,  the  power 
and  functions  of  the  priesthood.  Appeal  was  made  to  the 
whole  assembly:  "What  shall  be  done  with  them?"  "Let 
them  be  burned!  Let  them  be  burned!  "  And  burned  they 
were,  to  the  number  of  seven,  in  the  valley  of  Ecouan. 

In  the  market-place  of  Milan  were  raised,  here  a  cross,  there 
a  blazing  pyre.  The  heretics  were  brought  forth,  commanded 
to  throw  themselves  before  the  cross,  confess  their  sins,  accept 
the  Catholic  faith,  or  to  plunge  into  the  flames.  A  few  knelt 
before  the  cross;  the  greater  number  covered  their  faces, 
rushed  into  the  fire,  and  were  consumed.  In  Cologne,  also, 
heretics  were  thrown  into  the  flames. 

But  in  the  twelfth  century,  heresy  became  rampant,  bold, 
undisguised.  The  desperate  Church  was  compelled  to  resort 
to  the  irrefragable  argument  of  the  sword  and  the  stake.  Woe 
to  the  prince  or  to  the  magistrate  who  refused  to  be  the  execu- 
tioner of  the  stern  law. 

In  many  places  the  people  were  delighted  at  seeing  a  priest 
keep  a  mistress,  that  the  married  women  might  be  safe  from 
his  seductions.  What  humiliating  scenes  did  the  house  of  a 
priest  in  those  days  present!  The  wretched  man  supported 
the  woman  and  the  children  she  had  borne  him  with  the  tithes 
and  offerings.  His  conscience  was  troubled:  he  blushed  in 


One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

the  presence  of  the  people,  before  his  domestics,  and  before 
God.  The  mother,  fearing  to  come  to  want  if  the  priest  should 
die,  made  provision  against  it  beforehand,  and  robbed  her 
own  house.  Her  honour  was  lost.  Her  children  were  ever  a 
living  accusation  against  her.  Despised  by  all,  they  plunged 
into  quarrels  and  debauchery.  Such  was  the  family  of  the 
priest! 

If  we  go  higher  in  the  hierarchical  order,  we  find  the  corrup- 
tion not  less  great.  The  dignitaries  of  the  Church  preferred 
the  tumult  of  camps  to  the  hymns  of  the  altar.  To  be  able, 
lance  in  hand,  to  reduce  his  neighbours  to  obedience  was 
one  of  the  chief  qualifications  of  a  bishop.  Everywhere  the 
bishops  were  continually  at  war  with  their  towns.  The  citizens 
demanded  liberty,  the  bishops  required  implicit  obedience.  If 
the  latter  gained  the  victory,  they  punished  the  revolters  by 
sacrificing  numerous  victims  to  their  vengeance. 

And  what  a  spectacle  was  presented  by  the  pontifical  throne 
in  the  times  immediately  preceding  the  Reformation!  Rome, 
it  must  be  acknowledged,  had  seldom  witnessed  so  much  in- 
famy. Rodrigo  Borgia,  after  having  lived  with  a  Roman  lady, 
had  continued  the  same  illicit  connection  with  one  of  her  daugh- 
ters, named  Rosa  Vanozza,  by  whom  he  had  five  children. 
He  was  a  cardinal  and  archbishop,  living  at  Rome  with  Van- 
ozza and  other  women,  visiting  the  churches  and  the  hos- 
pitals, when  the  death  of  Innocent  VII.  created  a  vacancy  in 
the  pontifical  chair.  He  succeeded  in  obtaining  it  by  bribing 
each  cardinal  at  a  stipulated  price. 

On  the  day  of  his  coronation,  his  son  Caesar,  a  youth  of 
ferocious  and  dissolute  manners,  was  created  Archbishop  of 
Valencia,  and  Bishop  of  Pampeluna.  He  next  celebrated  in 
the  Vatican  the  marriage  of  his  daughter,  Lucretia,  by  festivi- 
ties, at  which  his  mistress,  Julia  Bella,  was  present;  and 
which  were  enlivened  by  licentious  plays  and  songs.  "  All  the 
clergy,"  says  an  historian,  "  kept  mistresses,  and  all  the  con- 
vents of  the  capital  were  houses  of  ill-fame." 

Thus  had  the  clergy  brought  not  only  themselves  but  their 
faith  into  disrepute.  Well  might  Luther  exclaim:  The  ec- 
clesiastical order  is  opposed  to  God  and  to  His  glory.  The 


Later  Crimes  of  the  Church  427 

people  know  it  well;  and  this  is  but  too  plainly  shown  by  the 
many  songs,  by  proverbs  and  jokes  against  the  priests,  that  are 
current  among  the  commonalty,  and  all  those  caricatures  of 
monks  and  priests  on  every  wall,  and  even  on  the  playing- 
cards.  Every  one  feels  a  loathing  on  seeing  or  hearing  a  priest 
in  the  distance.  The  evil  had  spread  through  all  ranks;  the 
corruption  of  manners  corresponded  with  the  corruption  of  faith. 

"We  Italians,"  says  Machiavelli,  "are  indebted  principally 
to  the  Church  and  the  priests  for  having  become  impious  and 
immoral." 

A  great  agitation  prevailed  at  that  time,  A.D.  1517,  among 
the  German  people.  The  Church  had  opened  a  vast  market 
upon  earth.  From  the  crowds  of  purchasers,  and  the  shouts 
and  jokes  of  the  sellers,  it  might  have  been  called  a  fair,  but 
a  fair  conducted  by  monks.  The  merchandise  that  they  were 
extolling,  and  which  they  offered  at  a  reduced  price,  was, 
said  they,  "  the  salvation  of  souls."  Tetzel,  a  monk,  who 
played  the  chief  part  at  these  sales,  delivered  the  following 
sermon:  "Indulgences,"  said  he,  "are  the  most  precious  and 
the  most  noble  of  God's  gifts. 

"  Come,  and  I  will  give  you  letters,  all  properly  sealed, 
by  which  even  the  sins  that  you  intend  to  commit  may  be 
pardoned."  "  There  is  no  sin  so  great  that  an  indulgence  can- 
not remit." 

"  But  more  than  this,"  said  he,  "  indulgences  avail  not  only 
for  the  living,  but  the  dead.  For  that  repentance  is  not  even 
necessary." 

"Priest!  noble!  merchant!  wife!  youth!  maiden!  do  you  not 
hear  your  parents  and  your  other  friends  who  are  dead,  and 
who  cry  from  the  bottom  of  the  abyss:  We  are  suffering  hor- 
rible torments!  a  trifling  alms  would  deliver  us;  you  can  give  it, 
and  you  will  not!  " 

"At  the  very  instant,"  continued  Tetzel,  "that  the  money 
rattles  at  the  bottom  of  the  chest,  the  soul  escapes  from  purga- 
tory and  flies,  liberated,  to  heaven." 

For  particular  sins,  there  was  a  particular  tax.  For  poly- 
gamy it  was  six  ducats;  for  sacrilege  and  perjury,  nine  ducats; 
for  murder,  eight  ducats;  for  witchcraft,  two  ducats. 


428         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

In  a  letter  given  at  Rome,  under  the  seal  of  the  Fisherman, 
in  November,  1517,  Leo  requires  of  his  commissary  of  in- 
dulgences 147  gold  ducats,  to  purchase  a  manuscript  of  the 
thirty-third  book  of  Livy.  Of  all  the  uses  to  which  he  applied 
the  money  of  the  Germans,  this  was  undoubtedly  the  best. 
Yet  it  was  a  strange  thing  to  deliver  souls  from  purgatory  to 
procure  the  means  of  purchasing  a  manuscript  of  the  history 
of  the  Roman  wars. 

A  married  schoolmaster,  desiring  to  enter  holy  orders,  ob- 
tained his  wife's  consent  with  this  view,  and  they  separated. 
The  new  priest,  finding  it  impossible  to  observe  his  vow  of 
celibacy,  and  unwilling  to  wound  his  wife's  feelings,  quitted 
the  place  where  she  lived,  and  went  into  the  see  of  Constance, 
where  he  formed  a  criminal  connection.  His  wife  heard  of 
this  and  followed  him.  The  poor  priest  had  compassion  on 
her,  and,  dismissing  the  woman  who  had  usurped  her  rights, 
took  his  lawful  spouse  into  his  house.  The  procurator-fiscal 
immediately  drew  up  a  complaint ;  the  vicar-general  was  in  a 
ferment;  the  councillors  of  the  consistory  deliberated  .  .  . 
and  ordered  the  curate  either  to  forsake  his  wife  or  his  bene- 
fice. The  poor  wife  left  her  husband's  house  in  tears,  and 
her  rival  re-entered  it  in  triumph.  The  Church  declared  itself 
satisfied,  and  from  that  time  the  adulterous  priest  was  left  un- 
disturbed.— Milman's  Latin  Christianity. 

THE  CRUSADES 

In  the  spring  of  1096  a  large  body  of  the  lower  orders, 
under  the  lead  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  and  under  the  guidance 
of  a  goose  and  a  goat,  began  to  march  across  Germany.  They 
were  compelled  to  divide,  and  the  smaller  party,  led  by  a 
Burgundian  knight,  Walter  the  Penniless,  going  in  advance,  was 
annihilated  in  Bulgaria.  The  larger  party  suffered  severely, 
and  was  guilty  of  great  atrocities;  but  Peter  brought  the  bulk 
of  it  to  Constantinople,  where  he  was  joined  by  Walter.  They 
were  landed  in  Asia,  where  they  were  nearly  all  destroyed  by 
the  Turks,  Peter  having  left  them. 

A  third  division,  consisting  of  Germans,  was  led  by  a  monk 


The  Crusades  429 

named  Godeschal,  and  was  massacred  in  Hungary.  A  fourth, 
estimated  at  two  hundred  thousand,  and  composed  of  various 
peoples,  was  led  by  some  nobles,  from  Germany,  but  it  was 
destroyed  by  the  Hungarians,  after  having  perpetrated  terrible 
outrages. 

The  siege  of  Jerusalem  during  the  first  crusade  was  closed 
with  an  assault,  and  a  massacre  of  almost  unequalled  atrocity. 
No  barbarian,  no  infidel,  no  Saracen,  ever  perpetrated  such 
wanton  and  cold-blooded  atrocities  of  cruelty  as  the  wearers 
of  the  cross  of  Christ — who,  it  is  said,  had  fallen  on  their 
knees  and  burst  into  a  pious  hymn  at  the  first  sight  of  the 
Holy  City — on  the  capture  of  that  city.  Murder  was  mercy, 
rape  tenderness,  simple  plunder  the  mere  assertion  of  the  con- 
queror's right.  Children  were  seized  by  the  legs,  some  of 
them  plucked  from  their  mother's  breasts,  and  dashed  against 
the  walls  or  whirled  from  the  battlements.  Others  were 
obliged  to  leap  from  the  walls;  some  tortured,  roasted  by  slow 
fires.  They  ripped  up  prisoners,  to  see  if  they  had  swallowed 
gold.  Of  seventy  thousand  Saracens  there  were  not  left  enough 
to  bury  the  dead;  poor  Christians  were  hired  to  perform  the 
office.  Every  one  surprised  in  the  temple  was  slaughtered,  till 
the  reek  from  the  dead  bodies  drove  away  the  slayers.  The 
Jews  were  burned  alive  in  their  synagogue.  Even  the  day  after, 
all  who  had  taken  refuge  on  the  roofs  were  hewn  to  pieces. 

At  the  surrender  of  Acre,  during  the  third  crusade,  the 
crusaders,  in  violation  of  their  word,  butchered  five  thousand 
Mussulmans  who  had  been  left  in  their  hands  as  hostages. 

Bootless  carnage  distinguished  the  Crusades  from  almost  all 
other  wars;  the  unseemly  spectacle  of  crimes,  cruelties,  un- 
bridled licentiousness,  strife,  jealousies,  and  treacheries  too 
often  prevailed  in  the  Christian  camp. 

To  all  who  embarked  in  the  Crusades  the  Pope  promised,  on 
their  sincere  repentance,  the  remission  of  all  their  sins  and 
eternal  life  in  the  great  day  of  retribution.  Those  who  were 
unable  to  proceed  in  person  might  obtain  the  same  remission 
in  proportion  to  the  bounty  of  their  offerings. 

The  Crusaders  advanced  to  the  siege  of  Constantinople, 
a  Christian  city,  in  the  name  of  Christ. 


43°         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Nicetas,  himself  an  eye-witness  and  sufferer  in  these  scenes, 
contrasts  the  discipline  and  self-denial  of  the  Mohammedans 
who  under  Saladin  stormed  Jerusalem,  with  the  rapacity,  the 
lust,  the  cruelty  of  the  Christian  conquerors  of  Constanti- 
nople. They  spared  neither  religion,  nor  age,  nor  sex;  they 
practised  fornications,  incests,  adulteries  in  the  sight  of  men; 
abandoned  matrons  and  virgins  dedicated  to  God,  to  the  lewd- 
ness  of  grooms.  Many  rushed  at  once  to  the  churches  and 
monasteries.  In  the  church  of  Santa  Sophia  the  silver  was 
rent  off  from  the  magnificent  pulpit;  the  table  of  oblation, 
admired  for  its  precious  material  and  exquisite  workmanship, 
broken  to  pieces.  Mules  and  horses  were  led  into  the  churches 
to  carry  off  the  ponderous  vessels;  if  they  slipped  down  on  the 
smooth  floor  they  were  forced  to  rise  up  by  lash  and  spur,  so 
that  their  blood  flowed  on  the  pavement. 

A  prostitute  mounted  the  Patriarch's  throne  and  screamed 
out  a  disgusting  song,  accompanied  with  the  most  offensive 
gestures. 

Instead  of  the  chants  the  aisles  rung  with  wild  shouts  of 
revelry  or  indecent  oaths  and  imprecations. 

But,  according  to  the  theory  of  the  Church,  the  erring  be- 
liever was  as  declared  an  enemy  to  God  as  the  Pagan  or  the 
Islamite:  in  one  respect  more  inexcusable  and  odious,  as 
obstinately  resisting  or  repudiating  the  truth.  The  heretic 
appeared  to  the  severely  orthodox  Christian  as  worse  than  the 
unbeliever;  he  was  a  revolted  subject,  not  a  foreign  enemy. 
Civil  wars  are  always  the  most  ferocious.  Excommunication 
from  the  Christian  Church  implied  outlawry  from  Christian 
society;  the  heretic  forfeited  not  only  all  dignities,  rights, 
privileges,  immunities,  even  all  property,  all  protection  by 
law;  he  was  to  be  pursued,  taken,  despoiled,  put  to  death, 
either  by  the  ordinary  course  of  justice, — the  temporal  author- 
ity was  bound  to  execute,  even  to  blood,  the  sentence  of  the 
ecclesiastical  court, — or,  if  he  dared  to  resist  by  any  means 
whatever,  however  peaceful,  he  was  an  insurgent,  against  whom 
the  whole  of  Christendom  might,  or  rather  was  bound  at  the 
summons  of  the  spiritual  power  to  declare  war;  his  estates, 
even  his  dominions  if  a  sovereign,  were  not  merely  liable  to 


The  Persecution  of  the  Jews  431 

forfeiture,  but  the  Church  assumed  the  power  of  awarding  the 
forfeiture  as  it  might  seem  best  to  her  wisdom. 

The  army  which  should  execute  the  mandate  of  the  Church 
was  the  army  of  the  Church,  and  the  banner  of  that  army  was 
the  cross  of  Christ.  So  began  crusades,  not  on  the  contested 
borders  of  Christendom,  not  in  Mohammedan  or  heathen 
lands,  in  Palestine,  on  the  shores  of  the  Nile,  among  the 
Livonian  forests  or  the  sands  of  the  Baltic,  but  in  the.  very 
bosom  of  Christendom;  not  among  the  implacable  partisans 
of  an  antagonistic  creed,  but  among  those  who  still  called 
themselves  by  the  name  of  Christians. — Milman's  History  of 
Latin  Christianity. 

THE  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  JEWS 

When  the  horde  of  fanatics  under  the  command  of  Peter 
the  Hermit  was  assembled  near  the  city  of  Treves,  a  murmur 
rapidly  spread  through  the  camp  that  while  they  were  ad- 
vancing to  recover  the  sepulchre  of  their  Redeemer  from  the 
Infidels,  they  were  leaving  behind  worse  unbelievers,  the  mur- 
derers of  the  Lord.  In  the  words  of  Jewish  tradition,  no 
doubt  generally  faithful  in  its  record  of  their  calamities,  "  the 
abominable  Germans  and  French  rose  up  against  them, — peo- 
ple of  a  fierce  countenance,  that  have  no  respect  to  the  persons 
of  the  old,  neither  have  they  mercy  upon  the  young;  and  they 
said:  'Let  us  be  revenged  for  our  Messiah  upon  the  Jews 
that  are  among  us,  and  let  us  destroy  them  from  being  a 
nation,  that  the  name  of  Israel  may  be  had  no  more  in  remem- 
brance; then  will  we  go  to  the  East.'  "  With  one  impulse  the 
Crusaders  rushed  to  the  city,  and  began  a  relentless  pillage, 
violation,  and  massacre  of  every  Jew  they  could  find.  In 
this  horrible  day  men  were  seen  to  slay  their  own  children  to 
save  them  from  the  worse  usage  of  these  savages.  Women 
having  deliberately  tied  stones  round  themselves  that  they 
might  sink,  plunged  from  the  bridge  to  save  their  honour  and 
escape  baptism.  Their  husbands  had  rather  send  them  to 
the  bosom  of  Abraham  than  leave  them  to  the  mercy,  or 
rather  the  lustful  cruelties,  of  the  Christians.  The  rest  fled  to 


432          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

the  Bishop's  palace  as  a  place  of  refuge.  They  were  received 
by  the  Bishop,  Engelbert,  with  these  words:  "  Wretches,  your 
sins  have  come  upon  you;  ye  who  have  blasphemed  the  Son 
of  God  and  calumniated  his  Mother.  This  is  the  cause  of 
your  present  miseries, — this,  if  ye  persist  in  your  obduracy, 
will  destroy  your  body  and  soul  for  ever."  The  same  bloody 
scenes  were  repeated  in  Metz,  in  Spiers,  in  Worms,  in  May- 
ence,  in  Cologne.  The  locust  band  passed  on;  everywhere 
the  tracks  of  the  Crusaders  were  deeply  marked  with  Jewish 
blood.  A  troop  under  Count  Emico  offered  the  same  horrid 
sacrifices  to  the  God  of  Mercy  in  the  cities  on  the  Maine  and 
the  Danube,  even  as  far  as  Hungary. 

There  was  at  Seville  a  fierce  popular  preacher,  Ferdinand 
Martinez,  Archdeacon  of  Ecija.  During  the  reign  of  John  I. 
his  inflammatory  harangues  against  the  obstinacy  and  the 
usury  and  the  wealth  of  the  Jews  had  excited  the  populace. 
The  Jewries  were  attacked;  and  a  general  pillage,  violation, 
and  massacre  took  place  of  men  and  women,  old  and  young. 
Fire  and  sword  raged  unresisted  through  these  quarters  of  the 
city.  The  streets  of  noble  Seville  ran  with  blood  and  the 
wild  voice  of  the  Archdeacon  in  the  pulpit  rose  over  all,  and 
kept  up  the  madness.  Four  thousand  Jews  perished  in  the 
massacre. 

The  terrible  example  of  their  impunity,  the  fame  of  the 
blood  which  they  had  shed  without  rebuke,  the  wealth  which 
they  had  acquired  without  restitution,  spread  throughout  the 
kingdom.  Hardly  more  than  a  year  had  passed,  when  in  one 
day — August  8th — the  populace  rose  in  Cordova,  in  Valencia, 
in  Toledo,  in  Burgos.  Each  of  these  cities,  says  a  Spanish 
author,  was  another  Troy.  All  the  horrors  of  a  town  taken  by 
storm  were  suffered  by  the  Jewries:  plunder,  rape,  massacre, 
conflagration. 

In  1492  appeared  the  fatal  edict  commanding  all  unbaptised 
Jews  to  quit  the  realm  of  Spain  in  four  months. 

For  three  centuries  their  fathers  had  dwelt  in  this  delightful 
country,  which  they  had  fertilised  with  their  industry,  enriched 
with  their  commerce,  adorned  with  their  learning.  Yet  there 
were  few  examples  of  weakness  or  apostasy;  the  whole  race, — 


The  Persecution  of  the  Jews  433 

variously  calculated  at  166,000,  300,000,  650,000,  or  800,000, — 
in  a  lofty  spirit  of  self-devotion — we  envy  not  that  mind  which 
cannot  appreciate  its  real  greatness — determined  to  abandon 
all  rather  than  desert  the  religion  of  their  fathers.  They  left 
the  homes  of  their  youth,  the  scenes  of  their  early  associa- 
tions, the  sacred  graves  of  their  ancestors,  the  more  recent 
tombs  of  their  own  friends  and  relatives.  They  left  the  syna- 
gogues in  which  they  had  so  long  worshipped  their  God,  the 
schools  where  those  wise  men  had  taught  who  had  thrown  a 
lustre  which  shone,  even  through  the  darkness  of  the  age, 
upon  the  Hebrew  name.  They  were  allowed  four  months  to 
prepare  for  this  everlasting  exile.  The  unbaptised  Jew  found 
in  the  kingdom  after  that  period  was  condemned  to  death. 
The  persecutor  could  not  even  trust  the  hostile  feeling  of  his 
bigoted  subjects  to  execute  his  purpose,  a  statute  was  thought 
necessary,  prohibiting  any  Christian  from  harbouring  a  Jew 
after  that  period.  Many  were  sold  for  slaves  ;  Christendom 
swarmed  with  them.  The  wealthier  were  permitted  to  carry 
away  their  movables,  excepting  gold  and  silver,  for  which  they 
were  to  accept  letters  of  change  or  any  merchandise  not  pro- 
hibited. Their  property  they  might  sell;  but  the  market  was 
soon  glutted  and  the  cold-hearted  purchasers  waited  till  the 
last  instant  to  wring  from  their  distress  the  hardest  terms.  A 
contemporary  author  states  that  he  saw  Jews  give  a  house  for 
an  ass  and  a  vineyard  for  a  small  quantity  of  cloth  or  linen. 
Yet  many  of  them  concealed  their  gold  and  jewels  in  their 
clothes  and  saddles;  some  swallowed  them,  in  hopes  thus 
at  least  to  elude  the  scrutiny  of  the  officers.  The  Jews  con- 
sider this  calamity  almost  as  dreadful  as  the  taking  and  ruin  of 
Jerusalem.  For  whither  to  fly  ?  And  where  to  find  a  more 
hospitable  shore  ?  Incidents  which  make  the  blood  run  cold 
are  related  of  the  miseries  which  they  suffered.  Some  of 
those  from  Aragon  found  their  way  into  Navarre;  others  to 
the  sea-shore,  where  they  set  sail  for  Italy,  or  the  coast  of 
Morocco;  others  crossed  the  frontier  into  Portugal.  "  Many 
of  the  former  were  cast  away  or  sunk,"  says  a  Jewish  writer, 
"  like  lead  into  the  ocean."  On  board  the  ship  which  was  con- 
veying a  great  number  to  Africa  the  plague  broke  out.  The 
28 


434         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

captain  ascribed  the  infection  to  his  circumcised  passengers, 
and  set  them  all  on  shore,  on  a  desert  coast,  without  pro- 
visions. They  dispersed:  one,  a  father,  saw  his  beautiful 
wife  perish  before  his  eyes — fainted  himself  with  exhaustion — 
and,  waking,  beheld  his  two  children  dead  by  his  side. 

In  Portugal  the  king  named  a  day  for  all  Jews  to  quit  the 
kingdom  and  appointed  certain  ports  for  their  embarkation. 
Before  that  time  he  issued  another  secret  order  to  seize  all 
children  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  to  tear  them  from  the 
arms,  the  bosoms  of  their  parents,  and  disperse  them  through 
the  kingdom,  to  be  baptised  and  brought  up  as  Christians. 
The  secret  transpired,  and,  lest  they  should  conceal  their  child- 
ren, it  was  instantly  put  in  execution.  Great  God  of  Mercy, 
this  was  in  the  name  of  Christianity!  Frantic  mothers  threw 
their  children  into  the  wells  and  rivers — they  destroyed  them 
with  their  own  hands.  One  mother  threw  herself  at  the  feet 
of  the  king  as  he  was  riding  to  church.  She  had  already  lost 
six  children;  she  implored  that  her  youngest  might  be  spared 
to  her.  The  courtiers  repelled  her  with  scorn  and  ill-usage. 
The  king  told  them  to  let  her  go,  "  the  poor  bitch  deprived  of 
her  whelps!  " — Milman's  History  of  Christianity. 

ALBIGENSIAN  WAR 

Never  in  the  history  of  man  were  the  great  eternal  princi- 
ples of  justice, -the  faith  of  treaties,  common  humanity,  so 
trampled  under  foot  as  in  the  Albigensian  war.  Never  was 
war  waged  in  which  ambition,  the  consciousness  of  strength, 
rapacity,  implacable  hatred,  and  pitiless  cruelty  played  a 
greater  part.  And  throughout  the  war  it  cannot  be  disguised 
that  it  was  not  merely  the  army  of  the  Church,  but  the  Church 
itself  in  arms.  Papal  legates  and  the  greatest  prelates  headed 
the  host  and  mingled  in  all  the  horrors  of  the  battle  and  the 
siege.  In  no  instance  did  they  interfere  to  arrest  the  massa- 
cre, in  some  cases  they  urged  it  on.  "Slay  all,  God  will 
know  His  own,"  was  the  boasted  saying  of  Abbot  Arnold, 
Legate  of  the  Pope,  before  Beziers.  Arnold  was  the  captain- 
general  of  the  army.  Hardly  one  of  the  great  prelates  of 
France  stood  aloof. 


Albigensian  War  435 

In  A.D.  1207  the  army  appeared  before  Beziers,  which,  in 
the  strength  of  its  walls  and  the  courage  of  its  inhabitants,  ven- 
tured on  bold  defiance.  The  Bishop  Reginald  of  Montpellier 
demanded  the  surrender  of  all  whom  he  might  designate  as 
heretics.  On  their  refusal  of  these  terms  the  city  was  stormed. 
A  general  massacre  followed;  neither  age  nor  sex  was  spared; 
even  priests  fell  in  the  remorseless  carnage.  In  the  Church 
of  St.  Mary  Magdalene  were  killed  seven  thousand  by  the 
defenders  of  the  sanctity  of  the  Church.  The  account  of  the 
slain  is  variously  estimated  from  twenty  thousand  even  up  to 
fifty  thousand.  The  city  was  set  on  fire,  even  the  cathedral 
perished  in  the  flames.  The  law  of  conquest  was  put  in  force. 
The  lands  of  a  heretic  were  as  the  lands  of  a  Saracen. 

The  barbarity  at  Lavour  passed  all  precedent,  even  in  this 
fearful  war.  A  general  massacre  was  permitted;  men,  women, 
children  were  cut  to  pieces,  till  there  remained  nothing  to  kill 
except  some  of  the  garrison,  and  others  reserved  for  a  more 
cruel  fate.  Four  hundred  were  burned  in  one  great  pile, 
which  made  a  wonderful  blaze,  and  caused  universal  rejoicing 
in  the  camp.  Aymeric  of  Montreal,  the  commander,  was 
brought  with  eighty  nobles — Lavour  seems  to  have  been 
thought  a  safe  place  of  refuge — before  De  Montfort.  He 
ordered  them  all  to  be  hanged;  the  overloaded  gibbets  broke 
down;  they  were  hewn  in  pieces.  Giralda,  the  Lady  of  La- 
vour, was  thrown  into  a  well,  and  huge  stones  rolled  down 
upon  her.  The  bishops  preached  in  vain  to  five  hundred 
heretics,  but  converted  not  one;  sixty,  however,  they  burned 
with  great  joy. 

In  1487,  Innocent  VIII.,  the  father  of  the  Romans,  issued  a 
bull  against  the  Waldenses.  "To  arms,"  said  the  pontiff, 
"  and  trample  these  heretics  under  foot  as  venomous  serpents." 

At  the  approach  of  the  legate,  followed  by  an  army  of 
eighteen  thousand  men  and  a  number  of  volunteers  who 
wished  to  share  the  spoils  of  the  Waldenses,  the  latter  aban- 
doned their  houses  and  took  refuge  in  the  mountains,  caverns, 
and  clefts  of  the  rocks,  as  the  birds  flee  for  shelter  when 
the  storm  begins  to  lower.  Not  a  valley,  nor  a  wood,  nor  a 
rock  escaped  their  persecutors;  everywhere  in  this  part  of  the 


436         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

Alps,  and  particularly  on  the  Italian  side,  these  poor  disciples 
of  Christ  were  hunted  down  like  beasts  of  prey.  At  last  the 
Pope's  satellites  were  worn  out;  their  strength  was  exhausted, 
their  feet  could  no  longer  scale  the  steep  retreats  of  the 
"  heretics,"  and  their  arms  refused  to  strike. 

The  Reformation  had  made  considerable  progress  among 
the  people  of  the  Netherlands  during  the  reign  of  Charles  V., 
and  Philip,  soon  after  his  accession,  undertook  to  root  out 
entirely  the  new  doctrines  and  to  restore  the  exclusive  suprem- 
acy of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

An  insurrection  of  the  Protestants  breaking  out  in  Flanders, 
August  14,  1566,  Philip  determined  to  resort  to  the  most  severe 
measures  to  suppress  Protestantism,  and  accordingly  the  cruel 
Duke  of  Alva,  a  soldier  of  great  reputation,  was  sent  to  the 
Netherlands  in  1567,  with  a  powerful  army  of  Spanish  vet- 
erans; and  for  six  years  the  country  suffered  under  a  tyranny 
which,  for  extent  and  ferocity,  has  few  parallels  in  history. 

After  the  execution  of  Huss — A.D.  1415 — the  Hussite  war 
broke  out  in  all  its  fury.  Of  all  wars,  none  was  so  horribly 
remorseless,  ostentatiously  cruel  as  this — a  war  of  races,  of  lan- 
guages, and  of  religion.  It  was  a  strife  of  revenge,  of  reprisal, 
of  extermination,  considered  to  be  the  holiest  of  duties.  On 
one  side  no  faith  was  to  be  kept,  no  mercy  shown  to  heretics: 
to  cut  off  the  spreading  plague  by  any  means  was  paramount 
to  all  principles  of  law  or  gospel.  On  the  other,  vengeance 
was  to  be  wreaked  on  the  enemies  of  God's  people,  and  there- 
fore the  enemies  of  God;  to  root  out  idolatry  was  the  mission 
of  the  Bohemians;  mortal  sin  was  to  be  cut  off  with  the  right- 
eous sword;  and  the  whole  priesthood,  all  monks,  friars,  nuns, 
were  so  utterly  depraved,  according  to  their  sweeping  con- 
demnation, that  it  was  only  to  fulfil  the  Divine  commandment 
to  extirpate  the  irreclaimable  Order.  These  terrible  theories 
were  relentlessly  carried  into  more  terrible  practice.  Kutten- 
burg,  the  second  city  in  the  realm,  the  rival  of  Prague,  Catho- 
lic and  German  as  Prague  was  Hussite  and  Bohemian,  burned, 
beheaded,  hanged  all  who  would  not  retract  their  opinions. 
They  bought  the  prisoners  taken  in  war  for  a  few  groschens  a 
head — five  times  as  much  for  a  preacher  as  for  a  common 


Persecution  of  Heretics  437 

man — and  executed  them  without  trial,  without  mercy.  They 
are  charged  with  having  put  to  death  sixteen  hundred  men. 
The  Hussites,  wherever  they  could,  perpetrated  horrible  re- 
prisals; for  so  many  of  their  brethren  as  were  burned,  they 
hanged  as  many  monks  or  friars. — Milman's  History  of  Latin 
Christianity. 

THE  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  HERETICS 

After  the  Albigensian  Crusade,  when  the  open  war  was  at 
an  end,  the  Church  still  pursued  her  exterminating  warfare 
against  her  still  rebellious  subjects.  The  Inquisition  contin- 
ued its  silent,  but  not  less  inhuman,  hardly  less  destructive 
crusade. 

That  tribunal,  with  all  its  peculiar  statutes,  its  jurisdiction, 
its  tremendous  agency,  was  founded  during  this  period.  Its 
statutes,  framed  after  the  successful  termination  of  the  war,  in 
order  absolutely  to  extirpate  every  lingering  vestige  of  heresy, 
form  the  code  of  persecution,  which  not  merely  aimed  at  sup- 
pressing all  public  teaching,  but  the  more  secret  freedom  of 
thought.  It  was  a  system  which  penetrated  into  the  inner- 
most sanctuary  of  domestic  life,  and  made  delation  not  only 
a  merit  and  duty,  but  an  obligation  also,  enforced  by  tremen- 
dous penalties. 

The  court  sat  in  profound  secrecy;  no  advocate  might  ap- 
pear before  the  tribunal,  no  witness  was  confronted  with  the 
accused:  who  were  the  informers,  what  the  charges,  except  the 
vague  charge  of  heresy,  no  one  knew.  The  suspected  heretic 
was  first  summoned  to  declare,  on  oath,  that  he  would  speak 
the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  of  all  persons  whatsoever,  living  or 
dead,  like  himself  under  the  suspicion  of  heresy.  If  he  re- 
fused, he  was  cast  into  a  dungeon — a  dungeon  the  darkest  in 
those  dreary  ages — the  most  dismal,  the  most  profound,  the 
most  noisome.  No  falsehood  was  too  false,  no  craft  too  crafty, 
no  trick  too  base  for  this  calm,  systematic  moral  torture, 
which  was  to  wring  further  confession  against  himself,  denun- 
ciation against  others.  It  was  the  deliberate  object  to  break 
the  spirit.  The  prisoner  was  told  that  there  were  witnesses, 


438         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

undeniable  witnesses  against  him;  if  convicted  by  such  wit- 
nesses, his  death  was  inevitable.  In  the  meantime  his  food 
was  to  be  slowly  diminished  till  body  and  soul  were  prostrate. 
He  was  then  to  be  left  in  darkness,  solitude,  and  silence. 
Then  were  to  come  one  or  two  of  the  faithful,  dexterous  men, 
who  were  to  speak  in  gentle  words  of  interest  and  sympathy: 
"  Fear  not  to  confess  that  you  have  had  dealings  with  those 
men,  the  teachers  of  heresy,  because  they  seemed  to  you  men 
of  holiness  and  virtue;  wiser  than  you  have  been  deceived." 
These  dexterous  men  were  to  speak  of  the  Bible,  of  the  Gos- 
pels, of  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  to  talk  the  very  language,  the 
scriptural  language  of  the  heretic.  "  These  foxes,"  it  was 
said, "  can  only  be  unearthed  by  fox-like  cunning."  But  if 
all  this  art  failed,  then  came  terror,  and  the  goading  to  despair. 
"  Die  you  must — bethink  you  of  your  soul."  Upon  which,  if 
the  desperate  man  said,  "  If  I  must  die,  I  will  die  in  the  true 
faith  of  the  gospel," — he  had  made  his  confession:  justice 
claimed  her  victim. 

The  Inquisition  had  three  penalties:  for  those  who  recanted, 
penance  in  the  severest  forms  which  the  Church  might  enact; 
for  those  not  absolutely  convicted,  perpetual  imprisonment; 
for  the  obstinate  or  relapsed,  death — death  at  the  stake.  Such 
was  the  procedure,  of  which  the  instructions  may  now  be  read 
in  their  very  words.  Two  inquisitors  were  appointed  in  every 
city,  but  the  bishops  needed  no  excitement  to  their  eager  zeal, 
no  remonstance  against  mistimed  mercy  to  the  heretics.  At 
the  Council  of  Narbonne  was  issued  a  decree  that  there  were 
not  prisons  vast  enough  to  contain  those  who  deserved  impris- 
onment for  life. 

A  division  of  the  Franciscans,  calling  themselves  spirituals, 
were  loud  in  their  denunciations  of  the  corruptions  of  the 
Church.  John  XXII.  was  too  sagacious  not  to  foresee  the 
peril;  too  arrogantly  convinced,  and  too  jealous,  of  his  su- 
preme spiritual  authority  not  to  resent;  too  merciless  not  to 
extirpate  by  the  most  cruel  means  these  slowly  working  ene- 
mies. Soon  after  his  accession,  bull  followed  bull  equally 
damnatory.  The  Inquisition  was  committed  to  Michael  di 
Cesena,  still  the  faithful  subject  of  the  pope,  and  to  seven 


Persecution  of  Heretics  439 

others.  Twenty-five  monks  were  convicted,  and  sentenced  first 
to  degradation,  then  to  perpetual  imprisonment.  They  were 
brought  to  the  stake  and  burned  at  Marseilles.  They  were 
condemned  for  the  heresy  of  denying  the  papal  authority. 

The  prisons  of  Narbonne  and  of  Carcassonne  were  crowded 
with  those  who  were  spared  the  last  penalty.  Among  these 
was  the  friar  Deliciosus  of  Montpellier,  a  Franciscan,  who  had 
boldly  withstood  the  Inquisition,  and  was  immured  for  life  in 
a  dungeon.  He  it  was  who  declared  that  if  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul  should  return  to  earth,  the  Inquisition  would  lay 
hands  on  them,  as  damnable  heretics.  At  Toulouse  the  pub- 
lic sermons  of  the  Inquisition  took  place  at  intervals,  and 
these  sermons  were  rarely  unaccompanied  by  proofs  of  their 
inefficacy.  Men  who  would  not  be  argued  into  belief  must 
be  burned.  The  corollary  of  a  Christian  sermon  was  a  holo- 
caust at  the  stake. 

In  England  a  statute  was  necessary  to  legalise  the  burning 
of  heretics.  The  judgment  was  passed  in  the  ecclesiastical 
court  or  that  of  the  Inquisition.  The  statute  bears  the  ill- 
omened  appellation,  "  For  the  Burning  of  Heretics."  The  pre- 
amble was  directed  in  the  most  comprehensive  terms  against 
the  new  preachers.  These  preachings,  schools,  books,  were 
strictly  inhibited.  The  bishop  of  the  diocese  was  empowered 
to  arrest  all  persons  accused  or  suspected  of  these  acts,  to  im- 
prison them,  to  bring  them  to  trial  in  his  court.  "  If  he  shall 
refuse  to  abjure  such  doctrines,  or  having  abjured,  relapse, 
sentence  is  to  be  recorded:  a  writ  issued  to  the  sheriff  of  the 
county,  the  mayor  or  bailiff  of  the  nearest  borough,  who  is  to 
take  order  that  on  a  high  place  in  public,  before  the  face  of 
the  people,  he  be  burned." 

Nor  was  this  statute  an  idle  menace;  the  primate  and 
the  bishops  hastened  to  make  examples  under  its  terrible 
provisions. 

And  when,  later  than  this,  Luther  struck  at  the  root  of 
Roman  Catholicism,  though  the  power  of  the  Church  was  on 
the  wane,  persecution  was  again  resorted  to. — Milman's  His- 
tory of  Latin  Christianity. 

Fanaticism  grew  fiercer  every  day;    evangelical  ministers 


440         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

were  expelled  from  their  churches;  magistrates  were  banished; 
and  at  times  the  most  horrible  punishments  were  inflicted. 
In  Wiirtemberg,  an  inquisitor  named  Reichler  caused  the 
Lutherans,  and,  above  all,  the  preachers,  to  be  hanged  upon 
trees.  Barbarous  ruffians  were  found,  who  unfeelingly  nailed 
the  pastors  by  their  tongues  to  a  post;  so  that  these  unhappy 
victims,  tearing  themselves  violently  from  the  wood  to  which 
they  were  fastened,  were  horribly  mutilated  in  attempting  to 
recover  their  liberty,  and  thus  deprived  of  that  gift  which 
they  had  long  used  to  proclaim  the  gospel. 

At  Landsburg  nine  persons  were  consigned  to  the  flames, 
and  at  Munich  twenty-nine  were  thrown  into  the  water. 

Leclerc,  one  of  the  French  reformers,  was  sentenced  to  be 
burnt  alive,  and  taken  out  to  the  place  of  execution.  Here 
a  fearful  scene  awaited  him.  The  cruelty  of  his  persecutors 
had  been  contriving  all  that  could  render  his  punishment 
more  horrible.  Near  the  scaffold  men  were  heating  pincers 
that  were  to  serve  as  the  instruments  of  their  rage.  Leclerc, 
firm  and  calm,  heard  unmoved  the  wild  yells  of  the  monks  and 
people.  They  began  by  cutting  off  his  right  hand;  then,  taking 
up  the  burning  pincers,  they  tore  off  his  nose;  after  this,  they 
lacerated  his  arms,  and  when  they  had  thus  mangled  them  in 
several  places,  they  concluded  by  burning  his  breasts.  After 
these  tortures  Leclerc  was  burnt  by  a  slow  fire,  in  conformity 
with  his  sentence. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  the  number  of  persons  burned 
alive  under  Torquemada,  the  first  grand  inquisitor,  amounted 
to  8800,  those  under  Deza  to  1664,  and  those  under  Cardinal 
Ximenez  to  2536. 

THE  MASSACRE  OF  ST.  BARTHOLOMEW 

The  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  was  planned  by  the  in- 
famous Catherine  de'  Medici,  to  take  place  at  the  celebration 
of  the  marriage  of  Henry  of  Narvarre  and  Marguerite  de 
Valois,  with  the  object  of  exterminating  the  nobles  and  gentry 
of  the  Huguenot  party,  while  plunged  in  the  festivities  of  that 
joyous  occasion.  The  city  gates  were  shut  and  guarded,  and 


The  Spaniards  in  Mexico  441 

all  the  Catholic  inhabitants  were  ordered  to  illuminate  their 
houses,  both  as  a  distinguishing  mark,  and  as  a  means  of 
giving  sufficient  light  by  which  to  carry  on  the  work  of 
destruction.  Orders  were  also  dispatched  to  the  royal  gov- 
ernors of  the  principal  cities  of  all  the  provinces  to  commence 
the  same  massacre  at  the  same  hour,  and,  although,  in  some 
instances,  the  humanity  of  the  officers  led  them  to  disobey 
their  orders,  the  instructions  were  too  generally  followed. 
Coligni  was  run  through  the  body,  in  spite  of  the  resistance  of 
some  of  his  household,  and  thrown  out  of  the  window  at  the  feet 
of  the  Duke  of  Guise,  who  sat  on  horseback,  coolly  awaiting 
the  performance  of  the  dreadful  deed,  and  when  the  bloody 
corpse  was  flung  before  his  charger's  hoofs  on  the  pavement, 
dismounted  and  wiped  the  clotted  gore  from  the  victim's 
features  with  his  handkerchief,  in  order  to  assure  himself  that 
there  had  been  no  mistake;  when  the  fatal  tocsin  rang  from 
the  Church  of  St.  Germain,  the  horrid  slaughter  began  on 
the  instant,  and  was  deliberately  prosecuted  during  several 
days,  both  in  the  capital  and  the  large  provincial  towns. 
Neither  sex  nor  age  was  spared. 

THE  SPANIARDS  IN  MEXICO 

• 

The  Spaniards  entered  Mexico  with  the  sole  intention  of 
conquest.  Setting  aside  the  question  of  right,  in  this  inten- 
tion, we  will  speak  only  of  their  manner  of  conducting  this 
conquest. 

While  occupying  the  city  of  Cholula,  Cone's,  fearing  some 
treachery  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  determined  to  make  an 
example  of  them  that  would  strike  the  whole  nation  with  ter- 
ror. Large  numbers  of  the  Indians  being  gathered  in  a 
square  of  the  city,  the  fatal  signal,  the  discharge  of  an  arque- 
buse,  was  given.  In  an  instant  every  musket  and  cross-bow 
was  levelled  at  the  unfortunate  Cholulans  in  the  court-yard, 
and  a  frightful  volley  poured  into  them  as  they  stood  crowded 
together  like  a  herd  of  deer  in  the  centre.  They  were  taken 
by  surprise,  and  made  scarcely  any  resistance  to  the  Spaniards, 
who  followed  up  the  discharge  of  their  pieces  by  rushing  on 


442          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

them  with  their  swords;  and,  as  the  half-naked  bodies  of  the 
natives  afforded  no  protection,  they  hewed  them  down  with  as 
much  ease  as  the  reaper  mows  down  the  ripe  corn  in  harvest 
time.  Some  endeavoured  to  scale  the  walls,  but  only  afforded 
a  surer  mark  to  the  arquebusiers  and  archers.  Others  threw 
themselves  into  the  gateways,  but  were  received  on  the  long 
pikes  of  the  soldiers  who  guarded  them.  Some  few  had  bet- 
ter luck  in  hiding  themselves  under  the  heaps  of  slain  with 
which  the  ground  was  soon  loaded. 

While  this  work  of  death  was  going  on  the  countrymen  of 
the  slaughtered  Indians,  drawn  together  by  the  noise  of  the 
massacre,  had  commenced  a  furious  assault  on  the  Spaniards 
from  without.  But  Cortes  had  placed  his  battery  of  heavy 
guns  in  a  position  that  commanded  the  avenues,  and  swept  off 
the  files  of  the  assailants  as  they  rushed  on.  In  the  intervals 
between  the  discharges,  which,  in  the  imperfect  state  of  the 
science  in  that  day,  were  much  longer  than  in  ours,  he  forced 
back  the  press  by  charging  with  the  horse  into  the  midst. 
The  steeds,  the  guns,  the  weapons  of  the  Spaniards  were  all 
new  to  the  Cholulans.  Notwithstanding  the  novelty  of  the 
terrific  spectacle,  the  flash  of  firearms  mingling  with  the 
deafening  roar  of  the  artillery,  as  its  thunders  reverberated 
among  the  buildings,  the  despairing  Indians  pushed  on  to 
take  the  places  of  their  fallen  comrades.  At  last,  forced  to 
give  way,  they  flung  themselves  into  the  wooden  turrets  that 
crowned  the  temple  and  poured  down  stones,  javelins,  and 
burning  arrows  on  the  Spaniards  as  they  climbed  the  great 
staircase,  which,  by  a  flight  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  steps, 
scaled  the  face  of  the  pyramid.  But  the  fiery  shower  fell 
harmless  on  the  steel  bonnets  of  the  Christians,  while  they 
availed  themselves  of  the  burning  shafts  to  set  fire  to  the 
wooden  citadel,  which  was  speedily  wrapt  in  flames. 

All  was  now  confusion  and  uproar  in  the  fair  city  which  had 
so  lately  reposed  in  security  and  peace.  The  groans  of  the 
dying,  the  frantic  supplications  of  the  vanquished  for  mercy, 
were  mingled  with  the  loud  battle-cries  of  the  Spaniards  as 
they  rode  down  their  enemy.  The  tumult  was  still  further 
swelled  by  the  incessant  rattle  of  musketry,  and  the  crash  of 


The  Spaniards  in  Mexico  443 

falling  timbers,  which  sent  up  a  volume  of  flame  that  outshone 
the  ruddy  light  of  morning,  making  altogether  a  hideous  con- 
fusion of  sights  and  sounds,  that  converted  the  Holy  City 
into  a  Pandemonium.  As  resistance  slackened  the  victors 
broke  into  the  houses  and  sacred  places,  plundering  them  of 
whatever  valuables  they  contained,  plate,  jewels,  which  were 
found  in  some  quantity,  wearing  apparel,  and  provisions. 
Cortes,  in  his  letter  to  Charles  the  Fifth,  admits  three  thou- 
sand slain,  most  accounts  say  six,  and  some  swell  the  amount 
yet  higher. 

It  was  common  for  the  Aztecs  to  celebrate  an  annual  festi- 
val in  May  in  honour  of  their  patron  war-god.  The  Span- 
iards gave  their  consent  to  this  feast  on  condition  that  they 
should  come  without  weapons.  They  assembled  accordingly 
on  the  day  appointed  to  the  number  of  six  hundred,  at  the 
smallest  computation. 

Alvarado  and  his  soldiers  attended  as  spectators,  some  of 
them  taking  their  station  at  the  gates,  as  if  by  chance,  and 
others  mingling  in  the  crowd.  They  were  all  armed,  a  cir- 
cumstance which,  as  it  was  usual,  excited  no  attention.  The 
Aztecs  were  soon  engrossed  by  the  exciting  movement  of  the 
dance,  accompanied  by  their  religious  chant,  and  wild,  dis- 
cordant minstrelsy.  While  thus  occupied  Alvarado  and  his 
men,  at  a  concerted  signal,  rushed  with  drawn  swords  on 
their  victims.  Unprotected  by  armour  or  weapons  of  any 
kind  they  were  hewn  down  without  resistance  by  their  assail- 
ants, who,  in  their  bloody  work,  says  a  contemporary,  showed 
no  touch  of  pity  or  compunction.  Some  fled  to  the  gates  but 
were  caught  on  the  long  pikes  of  the  soldiers.  Others,  who 
attempted  to  scale  the  Coatepantli,  or  Wall  of  Serpents,  as  it 
was  called,  which  surrounded  the  area,  shared  the  like  fate,  or 
were  cut  to  pieces  or  shot  by  the  ruthless  soldiery.  The 
pavement,  says  a  writer  of  the  age,  ran  with  streams  of  blood, 
like  water  in  a  heavy  shower.  Not  an  Aztec,  of  all  that  gay 
company,  was  left  alive!  It  was  repeating  the  dreadful  scene 
of  Cholula  with  the  disgraceful  addition  that  the  Spaniards, 
not  content  with  slaughtering  their  victims,  rifled  them  of  the 
precious  ornaments  on  their  persons!  On  this  sad  day  fell 


444         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

the  flower  of  the  Aztec  nobility.    Not  a  family  of  note  but  had 
mourning  and  desolation  brought  within  its  walls. 

And  now,  with  all  allowance  for  the  ferocity  of  the  age  and 
the  laxity  of  its  principles,  it  must  be  admitted  that  these  are 
passages  which  every  Spaniard,  who  cherishes  the  fame  of  his 
countrymen,  would  be  glad  to  see  expunged  from  history; 
passages  not  to  be  vindicated  on  the  score  of  self-defence,  or 
of  necessity  of  any  kind,  and  which  must  for  ever  leave  a  dark 
spot  on  the  annals  of  the  Conquest.  And  yet,  taken  as  a 
whole,  the  invasion  was  conducted  on  principles  less  revolting 
to  humanity  than  most,  perhaps  than  any,  of  the  other  con- 
quests of  the  Castilian  crown  in  the  New  World. — Prescott. 

THE  SPANIARDS  IN  PERU 

Soon  after  the  Spaniards  entered  Peru  the  Inca  consented 
to  visit  them  and  to  come  unarmed.  He  entered  Caxamalca 
at  the  head  of  a  large  number  of  his  people,  and  was  received 
in  one  of  the  squares  of  the  city  by  Pizarro's  chaplain,  who, 
after  explaining  the  Christian  belief,  and  dwelling  particularly 
on  the  pope's  authority  over  all  nations,  concluded  with  be- 
seeching the  Peruvian  monarch  to  abjure  the  errors  of  his  own 
faith,  and  embrace  that  of  the  Christians  now  proffered  to  him, 
the  only  one  by  which  he  could  hope  for  salvation;  and,  fur- 
thermore, to  acknowledge  himself  a  tributary  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  the  Fifth,  who,  in  that  event,  would  aid  and  protect 
him  as  his  loyal  vassal. 

The  eyes  of  the  Indian  monarch  flashed  fire,  and  his  dark 
brow  grew  darker  as  he  replied:  "  I  will  be  no  man's  tributary. 
I  am  greater  than  any  prince  upon  earth.  Your  emperor 
may  be  a  great  prince;  I  do  not  doubt  it  when  I  see  that  he 
has  sent  his  subjects  so  far  across  the  waters;  and  I  am  willing 
to  hold  him  as  a  brother.  As  for  the  pope,  of  whom  you 
speak,  he  must  be  crazy  to  talk  of  giving  away  countries 
which  do  not  belong  to  him.  For  my  faith,"  he  continued, 
"  I  will  not  change  it.  Your  own  God,  as  you  say,  was  put  to 
death  by  the  very  men  whom  he  created.  But  mine,"  he  con- 
cluded, pointing  to  his  deity, — then  sinking  in  glory  behind 


The  Spaniards  in  Peru  445 

the  mountains, — "  my  God  still  lives  in  the  heavens  and  looks 
down  on  his  children." 

Pizarro  saw  that  the  hour  had  come.  He  waved  a  white 
scarf  in  the  air,  the  appointed  signal.  The  fatal  gun  was  fired 
from  the  fortress.  Then,  springing  into  the  square,  the  Span- 
ish captain  and  his  followers  shouted  the  old  war-cry  of  "  St. 
Jago  and  at  them."  It  was  answered  by  the  battle-cry  of 
every  Spaniard  in  the  city,  as,  rushing  from  the  avenues  of 
the  great  halls  in  which  they  were  concealed,  they  poured  into 
the  plaza,  horse  and  foot,  each  in  his  own  dark  column,  and 
threw  themselves  into  the  midst  of  the  Indian  crowd.  The 
latter,  taken  by  surprise,  stunned  by  the  report  of  artillery 
and  muskets,  the  echoes  of  which  reverberated  like  thunder 
from  the  surrounding  buildings,  and  blinded  by  the  smoke 
which  rolled  in  sulphureous  volumes  along  the  square,  were 
seized  with  a  panic.  They  knew  not  whither  to  fly  for  re- 
fuge from  the  coming  ruin.  Nobles  and  commoners, — all 
were  trampled  down  under  the  fierce  charge  of  the  cavalry, 
who  dealt  their  blows,  right  and  left,  without  sparing,  while 
their  swords,  flashing  through  the  thick  gloom,  carried  dismay 
into  the  hearts  of  the  wretched  natives,  who  now,  for  the  first 
time,  saw  the  horse  and  his  rider  in  all  their  terrors.  They 
made  no  resistance, — as,  indeed,  they  had  no  weapons  with 
which  to  make  it.  Every  avenue  to  escape  was  closed,  for  the 
entrance  to  the  square  was  choked  up  with  the  dead  bodies  of 
men  who  had  perished  in  vain  efforts  to  fly;  and  such  was  the 
agony  of  the  survivors  under  the  terrible  pressure  of  their 
assailants  that  a  large  body  of  Indians,  by  their  convulsive 
struggles,  burst  through  the  wall  of  stone  and  dried  clay 
which  formed  part  of  the  boundary  of  the  plaza!  It  fell, 
leaving  an  opening  of  more  than  a  hundred  paces,  through 
which  multitudes  now  found  their  way  into  the  country,  still 
hotly  pursued  by  the  cavalry,  who,  leaping  the  fallen  rubbish, 
hung  on  the  rear  of  the  fugitives,  striking  them  down  in  all 
directions. 

Meanwhile  the  fight,  or  rather  the  massacre,  continued  hot 
round  the  Inca,  whose  person  was  the  great  object  of  the 
assault.  His  faithful  nobles,  rallying  about  him,  threw  them- 


446         One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

selves  in  the  way  of  the  assailants,  and  strove  by  tearing  them 
from  their  saddles,  or,  at  least,  by  offering  their  own  bosoms 
as  a  mark  for  their  vengeance,  to  shield  their  beloved  master. 
Thus  they  continued  to  force  back  the  cavaliers,  clinging  to 
their  horses  with  dying  grasp,  and,  as  one  was  cut  down, 
another  taking  the  place  of  his  fallen  comrade  with  a  loyalty 
truly  affecting. 

The  Indian  monarch,  stunned  and  bewildered,  saw  his  faith- 
ful subjects  falling  round  him  without  fully  comprehending  his 
situation.  The  litter  on  which  he  rode  heaved  to  and  fro,  as 
the  mighty  press  swayed  backwards  and  forwards  ;  and  he 
gazed  on  the  overwhelming  ruin,  like  some  forlorn  mariner, 
who,  tossed  about  in  his  bark  by  the  furious  elements,  sees  the 
lightning's  flash  and  hears  the  thunder  bursting  around  him 
with  the  consciousness  that  he  can  do  nothing  to  avert  his 
fate.  At  length,  weary  with  the  work  of  destruction,  the 
Spaniards,  as  the  shades  of  evening  grew  deeper,  felt  afraid 
that  the  royal  prize  might,  after  all,  elude  them  ;  and  some  of 
the  cavaliers  made  a  desperate  attempt  to  end  the  affray  at 
once  by  taking  Atahuallpa's  life.  But  Pizarro,  who  was  nearest 
his  person,  called  out  with  stentorian  voice,  "  Let  no  one,  who 
values  his  life,  strike  at  the  Inca  "  ;  and,  stretching  out  his  arm 
to  shield  him,  received  a  wound  on  the  hand  from  one  of  his 
own  men, — the  only  wound  received  by  a  Spaniard  in  the 
action. 

The  number  of  slain  is  reported,  as  usual,  with  great  discrep- 
ancy. Pizarro's  secretary  says  two  thousand  natives  fell.  A 
descendant  of  the  Incas  swells  the  number  to  ten  thousand. 

It  was  not  long  before  Atahuallpa  discovered,  amidst  all  the 
show  of  religious  zeal  in  his  conquerors,  a  lurking  appetite 
more  potent,  in  most  of  their  bosoms,  than  either  religion  or 
ambition.  This  was  the  love  of  gold.  He  determined  to 
avail  himself  of  it  to  procure  his  own  freedom. 

In  the  hope,  therefore,  to  effect  his  purpose,  by  appealing  to 
the  avarice  of  his  keepers,  he  one  day  told  Pizarro  that  if  he 
would  set  him  free  he  would  engage  to  cover  the  floor  of  the 
apartment  on  which  they  stood  with  gold.  Those  present  lis- 
tened with  an  incredulous  smile  ;  and  as  the  Inca  received  no 


Civilisation  and  Theology  447 

answer,  he  said  with  some  emphasis  that  "  he  would  not 
merely  cover  the  floor,  but  would  fill  the  room  with  gold 
as  high  as  he  could  reach  "  ;  and,  standing  on  tiptoe,  he 
stretched  out  his  hand  against  the  wall.  Although  this  ransom 
was  paid,  the  Spaniards  on  some  frivolous  accusation  sen- 
tenced him  to  death.  When  the  sentence  was  communicated 
to  the  Inca,  he  exclaimed,  "  What  have  I  done,  or  my  children, 
that  I  should  meet  such  a  fate  ?  And  from  your  hands,  too," 
said  he,  addressing  Pizarro,  "  you,  who  have  met  with  friend- 
ship and  kindness  from  my  people,  with  whom  I  have  shared 
my  treasures,  who  have  received  nothing  but  benefits  from  my 
hands  ? "  In  the  most  piteous  tones,  he  then  implored  that 
his  life  might  be  spared,  promising  any  guaranty  that  might 
be  required  for  the  safety  of  every  Spaniard  in  the  army, 
promising  double  the  ransom  he  had  already  paid,  if  time  were 
only  given  him  to  obtain  it. 

Finding,  however,  that  he  had  no  power  to  turn  his  con- 
queror from  his  purpose,  he  recovered  his  habitual  self-posses- 
sion, and  from  that  moment  submitted  himself  to  his  fate  with 
the  courage  of  an  Indian  warrior. 


CIVILISATION  AND  THEOLOGY 

Many  of  these  cruelties  were  committed  by  those  who 
prided  themselves  on  being  in  the  head  and  front  of  the 
civilisation  which  is  claimed  to  have  sprung  from  the  teaching 
and  influence  of  Christian  theology,  but  which,  in  fact,  has 
sprung  up  in  these  our  times  —  as  it  has,  in  other  times,  in 
Egyptian,  Grecian,  Roman,  and  South  American  communities 
— under  the  advantages  afforded  by  the  accumulation  of  wealth, 
which  goes  hand  in  hand  with  mental  culture  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  arts  and  sciences,  each  fostering  and  forwarding 
the  other.  The  discovery  of  the  art  of  printing  has  been  of 
immense  service  in  increasing  and  perpetuating  civilisation  in 
later  days,  by  diffusing  and  retaining  knowledge  for  the 
benefit  of  each  succeeding  generation,  and  by  bringing  mind 
into  collision  with  mind. 


448          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

PRINTING  AND  CIVILISATION 

But  the  inventor  of  the  printing-press  was  denounced  by  the 
Christian  theologians  of  his  day  as  being  in  league  with  the 
devil,  inasmuch  as  copies  of  the  Bible  could  be  produced  by 
means  of  printing  with  a  celerity  and  in  quantities  never 
before  heard  or  dreamed  of  —  thus  leading  the  way  to  the  dis- 
covery of  the  cheat  which  the  theologians  were  practising  on 
the  masses.  Now,  however,  the  Church  authorities  seize  upon 
the  evident  and  rapid  advance  in  intellectual  culture  and 
knowledge  in  Christian  countries,  as  compared  with  others,  and 
claim  that  this  is  due  entirely  to  the  promulgation  of  Christ- 
ianity ;  whereas,  it  is  due  entirely  to  the  circumstance  that 
the  printing-press  was  invented  and  put  into  operation  in  a 
Christian  country,  in  despite  of  the  theologians  who  denounced 
it.  That  the  dark  side  of  human  nature  here  presented  is  the 
exception  and  not  the  general  rule,  even  in  Christian  countries, 
we  freely  admit.  It  is  one  of  the  objects  of  this  work  to  main- 
tain that  the  good,  the  true,  and  the  kind  in  human  nature 
largely  predominate,  notwithstanding  the  habit  of  the  clergy 
of  representing  unregenerate  men  —  that  is,  all  not  within  the 
pale  of,  and  paying  tithes  to,  the  Church  —  as  utterly  corrupt 
and  having  no  good  in  them.  This  habit  of  dilating  so  con- 
tinually on  the  darker  side  of  human  nature  amounts  to  a 
gross  and  palpable  libel  on  the  species.  Theologians,  habitu- 
ally measuring  character  by  its  aberrations,  and  estimating 
strong  and  passionate  natures  by  their  failings,  rather  than  by 
their  virtues  —  which  largely  predominate, —  have  fallen  into 
a  signal  injustice.  And  this  is  the  more  inexcusable,  inasmuch 
as  in  their  own  sacred  volume,  the  Psalms  of  David  are  a  con- 
spicuous proof  how  a  noble,  tender,  and  passionate  nature 
could  survive,  even  in  an  adulterer  and  a  murderer. 

Now,  from  whatever  cause  this  persistent  course  of  the 
Christian  theologians,  in  representing  man  in  his  natural  state 
as  altogether  under  the  empire  of  evil,  proceeds, — whether  from 
love  of  denomination,  interest,  or  other  causes, — nothing  can  be 
more  certain  than  that  excellence,  and  not  vice,  is  prominent 
and  distinctive  in  human  nature  in  its  most  primitive  state. 


Printing  and  Civilisation  449 

The  more  the  intellectual  faculties  are  cultivated  and  lend 
their  aid  to  the  moral  perceptions  and  kindly  promptings  of 
the  heart,  the  more  rapid  is  the  advance  in  the  pursuit  of  the 
good,  the  right,  and  the  virtuous.  But  good  greatly  prepon- 
derates over  evil,  even  in  the  incipient  stages  of  human  society. 
Benevolence  is  more  common  than  cruelty.  The  sight  of 
suffering  produces  pity,  rather  than  joy.  Gratitude,  not  in- 
gratitude, is  the  normal  result  of  a  conferred  benefit.  The 
sympathies  of  man  naturally  follow  heroism  and  goodness.  In 
fine,  virtue  and  not  vice,  love  and  not  hate,  predominate  in 
human  nature  ;  while  vice  itself  is  usually  but  an  exaggeration 
or  distortion  of  tendencies  that  are  in  their  own  nature  per- 
fectly innocent. 

We  have  herein  presented  to  notice  some  of  the  great  crimes 
known  to  history,  that  have  been  committed  by  the  inhabitants 
of  Christian  countries,  who  are  understood  to  have  had  the 
benefit  of  the  teachings  of  the  Church.  And  we  would  remind 
those  who  attempt  to  build  up  Church  interests,  and  prove  its 
beneficial  effects  upon  man,  by  contrasting  the  moral  conduct 
of  Christian  nations  with  that  of  heathen,  that  —  when  fairly 
made  —  Christians  lose  rather  than  gain  by  the  comparison. 
As  to  attributing  the  advanced  state  of  mental  culture  and 
civilisation  to  the  influence  of  the  Church,  rather  than  to  that 
of  the  art  of  printing,  the  cause  of  truth  will  be  served  by 
calling  attention  to  certain  doings  of  the  Church  here  given, 
before  the  printing-press  came  into  use. 


LIST  OF  BOOKS  CONSULTED 

AND    FROM    WHICH    EXTRACTS   HAVE    BEEN    MADE 

Essays  on  the  Language,  Writings,  and  Religion  of  the  Par  sees, 
by  Martin  Haug. 

Ancient  Faiths  Embodied  in  Ancient  Names,  by  Thomas 
Inman,  M.D. 

Sangermano's  Burmese  Empire,  by  Tandy. 

The  Rig-  Veda  Sanhita,  translated  by  Wilson  and  Cowell. 

Legge's  Life  and  Teachings  of  Confucius. 

Grote's  Plato. 

The  Ten  Tribes  of  Israel,  and  Mexican  Antiquities,  by  Mrs. 
Simon. 

The  Koran,  by  George  Sale. 

A  Voice  from  the  Ganges. 

The  Dervishes,  by  J.  P.  Brown. 

A  Brief  View  of  Greek  Philosophy,  by  a  Pariah. 

Philosophical  Theories,  and  Philosophical  Experience,  by  a 
Pariah. 

The  works  of  Thomas  Hobbes,  Dugald  Stewart,  John  Stuart 
Mill,  Lord  Macaulay,  Dr.  Channing,  Theodore  Parker,  Hum- 
boldt,  J.  G.  Fichte,  and  George  Combe. 

The  Bridgewater  Treatises,  by  Drs.  Chalmers,  Whewell,  and 
others. 

Bishop  Colenso  on  the  Pentateuch. 

Bun  sen's  God  in  History. 

Buckle's  History  of  Civilisation  in  England. 

Lecky's  History  of  European  Morals,  from  Augustus  to 
Charlemagne. 

Kenan's  Life  of  Jesus. 

New  Life  of  Jesus,  by  Strauss. 


452          One  Religion  :  Many  Creeds 

The  Divine  Government,  by  Southwood  Smith. 
Fellowes'  Religion  of  the  Universe. 
The  Universal  Church. 
Maurice's  Religions  of  the  World. 
McCausland's  Adam  and  the  Adamites. 
Vestiges  of  the  Natural  History  of  Creation. 
Prescott's  Conquest  of  Mexico  and  of  Peru. 
Essays  and  Reviews. 

Draper's  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe. 
Hansel's  Bampton  Lectures. 
Froude's  Short  Studies  on  Great  Subjects. 
Ecce  Homo. 

Force  and  Matter,  by  Louis  Biichner. 
Lewes'  History  of  Philosophy. 
The  State  of  Man  before  Christianity. 
S.  W.  Hall's  Law  of  Impersonation. 

Discussion  of  the  Unity,  Duality,  and  Trinity  of  the  Godhead. 
Bernard's  Cambridge  Free  Thoughts. 
Quarterly  Review  on  "  The  Talmud." 
F.  W.  Newman's  Phases  of  Faith. 
What  is  Truth  ? 

Coupland's  Incentives  to  the  Higher  Life. 
Leigh  Hunt's  Religion  of  the  Heart. 
The  Creed  of  Christendom,  by  W.  R.  Greg. 
The  Method  of  the  Divine  Government,  by  Dr.  McCosh. 
Pindar  and  Cicero  in  Bohn's  Classical  Library. 
Indigenous  Races  of  the  Earth. 

Milman's  History  of  the  Jews,  of  Christianity,  and  of  Latin 
Christianity. 

Chips  from  a  German  Workshop,  by  Max  Mtiller. 
D'Aubigne's  History  of  the  Reformation. 
Christ,  and  other  Masters,  by  Archdeacon  Hardwick. 
Appleton's  Cyclopedia. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


NOV  16  1947 


REC'D  LD 

JUL  1  0  19S7 


REC'D  L 

JAN  3    1962 


REC'D  t-D 

J  AMI?  1962 

/Jan'65% 


W 


LD  21-100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 


30017 


/ 


